Beijing courts innovate to solve, prevent school bullying cases

With the judicial system paying greater attention to school bullying, Beijing courts have innovated measures to help solve disputes caused by such incidents to provide students with a safe study environment and ensure their physical and mental health, a report said.

The report on juvenile justice, which was issued by the Beijing High People's Court on Wednesday, showed that courts citywide have concluded more than 22,000 civil cases and over 2,000 criminal cases involving juveniles since 2019, of which, some were related to school bullying, receiving wide public attention.

School bullying in the lawsuits could be seen in the form of gang fight, demand for money, physical beating, verbal threat or mental control among students, the report said, adding that the behaviors tended to be group and persistent.

While harming the physical and mental health of students, school bullying has also affected the safety in campus, it noted.

About 60 percent of the bullying-related incidents became civil lawsuits, with a few serious incidents eventually becoming criminal cases, such as those related to intentional injury, affray, indecency and disturbance of public order, it said.

Perpetrators in the criminal cases have been punished in line with the law, while guardians of underage attackers in the civil disputes have also been ordered to pay compensation to victims, it added.

To better solve and prevent cases related to school bullying, the Beijing Haidian District People's Court has set up an innovative work system that not only requires judges to provide psychological aids for children involved in the cases, but also to introduce and interpret laws to the minors, as well as their families and schools.

Since 2016, when the system was launched, it has been applied in more than 10 bullying-related civil and criminal cases, with over 50 children given the aid and the law explanation, according to Li Luoyun, chief judge of the high court's juvenile adjudication tribunal.

So far, none of the children have run afoul of the law again, she said.

In addition, the Haidian court also offered more than 50 free law training and lectures, both online and offline, for over 10,000 students and their parents in 2023, she added.