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E-mail Xinhua, December 10, 2024
China published a set of guidelines on Monday aimed at helping police more effectively prevent and address domestic violence.
The guidelines were jointly issued by nine institutions including the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Justice, and the All-China Women's Federation.
These guidelines clarify the conditions under which police can establish the facts of domestic violence, an area that often sparks controversy in real-life situations.
If the perpetrator does not dispute the act of domestic violence, statements from both the perpetrator and the victim, or witness testimony, will be required. If the perpetrator denies the allegations, a statement from the victim or witness testimony, along with supplementary evidence, will be necessary, according to the guidelines.
The guidelines list eight types of supplementary evidence, including digital materials such as audio-visual recordings and telephone recordings documenting the domestic violence incident.
Witness testimonies from friends and neighbors, medical records from healthcare institutions, and records of complaints filed with relevant departments regarding domestic violence also constitute supplementary evidence, according to the guidelines.
They also clarify penalties for perpetrators of lesser offenses. In cases where the circumstances of domestic violence are relatively minor and do not warrant administrative penalties like detention, the police are authorized to educate and issue a verbal warning to the perpetrator or issue an admonition notice.
An admonition notice should be issued if the perpetrator has been previously educated and verbally warned by the police for acts of domestic violence.
The guidelines also outline the responsibilities of eight sectors in combating domestic violence, including courts, education authorities, civil affairs departments, hospitals and women's organizations.
In particular, they highlight the implementation of a mandatory reporting system. For instance, staff at schools, kindergartens, medical institutions, community centers and social service organizations have been asked to report cases of domestic violence to the police upon discovering them.
China's anti-domestic violence law took effect in 2016, which authorizes the police to issue admonition notices to perpetrators. In 2023, police across the country issued 98,000 such notices.
