Terrible Chinese Parents Could Soon Face Criminal Charges With New Law

Chinese parents who would otherwise seem like the worst possible parents could soon end up defending themselves in court thanks to a new legal proposal.

The proposal comes from 13 members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, who argued that guardians should take criminal responsibility for negligence that leads to injury or death of a child they’re supposed to take care of.

It comes just days after two children fell to their deaths from the fourth floor of a shopping mall in Tianjin. A similar incident happened back in November at a Shanghai mall, where one grandmother lost balance and dropped a four-month-old baby while riding an escalator.

Proposal contributor Li You of the China Democratic League said public sympathy was usually with guardians. With this, he called for the establishment of a legal system that would deal with guardians involved in such casualties.

Chengdu Economic Daily quoted him as saying (via South China Morning Post):

“The harm done to children due to negligence by reckless parents poses a severe social problem and deserves the attention of families, society and the relevant authorities.”

We’re not exactly sure if the proposal covers instances of left-behind children, one of which suffered years of abuse from his father and thus committed suicide right on the eve of the recent Chinese New Year.

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