Questioning eased for young sex-assault victims

Shanghai prosecutors and police are conducting joint inquiries into crimes involving juvenile victims for the first time in the country in an effort to prevent secondary damage to the victims who, in the past, had to recount their traumatic experience multiple times to different investigators.

The new practice, which was adopted in August 2015, was recently recommended for use nationwide by the country's top prosecuting agency, according to Wu Yan, director of juvenile prosecutions for the Shanghai People's Procuratorate, on Sunday.

A review of 451 cases investigated from the beginning of 2014 to August this year, in which the victim was under the age of 18, found that most involved rape or sexual assault of a child. About 60 percent of the victims were under the age of 14.