China’s Supreme People’s Court issued a historic directive: s*xual crimes against children classified as “extremely serious” will be punished with the maximum penalty. No sentence reductions. No commutations. No pardons. Zero tolerance.

The directive classifies these acts as crimes of “extreme vileness” and establishes that when they involve exceptional cruelty or particularly severe consequences for victims, courts must impose the harshest sentence allowed by law.

The numbers back the decision: between 2017 and mid-2026, over 8,300 cases of such crimes against minors were tried in China. In 2024 alone, more than 41,000 people were prosecuted for crimes against children.

This isn’t new for China’s system. In May 2025, three people were executed on the same day after being found guilty of assaulting minors. The new directive aims to consolidate this stance and eliminate any legal benefits for offenders.