Research On Character Evidence In The Case Of Sexual Assault On Minors

In recent years,there has been a high incidence of cases of sexual abuse of minors,including rape and indecent assault of children.According to the judicial big data special report on sexual abuse crimes released by the Supreme People’s court in 2017,the proportion of crimes involving indecent assault of children in sexual abuse crimes has increased,from 10.2% in 2014-october 2015 to 11.8% in November 2015-september 2016.The problem of sexual protection of minors already exists and can not be avoided,we need to focus our attention on this issue in order to seek to prevent the occurrence of sexual abuse of minors.The difficulties of evidence in the case of sexual abuse of minors can be divided into three aspects: the single type of evidence,the shortage of evidence and the weak relevance of evidence.Therefore,character evidence may be an important way to solve this kind of sexual crime conviction dilemma.In addition,the accused and his or her defence may use evidence of bad character as a defence against charges of rape or indecent assault against a number of minors aged between 14 and 18 who have been sexually assaulted,whether this kind of character evidence can be applied or not is also one of the purposes of this article.In view of the difficulty of proof in the case of sexual assault on minors in China and the improper prejudice to the minor victims and other problems,combined with the sorting and argumentation of the character evidence rules of the two legal systems,this paper proposes the following suggestions on the admission criteria: First,the character evidence of the defendant is limited in the conviction;Second,the defendant’s character is taken into full consideration in sentencing.Third,the evidence of the victim’s good character is generally acceptable,but the evidence of bad character is limited.Fourth,character evidence of witnesses shall be inadmissible.In addition,for the fixation of character evidence,this paper plans to set up differentiated fixed measures for different stages of conviction and sentencing.In the conviction stage,the subject and principle of collection of character evidence should be determined,and in the sentencing stage,the character investigation system should be improved to meet different trial needs.In a word,the construction of the characteristic character evidence rules of our country in the case of sexual assault on minors needs to make clear the facts of the case and balance the litigant’s litigation rights,so as to grasp the relevance between character evidence and the case,only in this way can we truly realize the triple interests of finding out the truth,protecting the human rights of the defendant and the victim,preventing and controlling the crime.