A couple who threw excrement at strangers to make a prank video

Introduction

Wuhan has recently seen an incident with no bottom line at all. A couple, in order to film a prank video and attract traffic, mixed animal faeces with human waste to make a bucket of slurry and, seizing their moment in public places, threw it over innocent passers-by.

On the evening of 30 June a Wuhan resident, Ms Zhou, had just come out of the Shilipu metro station in Hanyang when the couple played their prank on her. The woman filmed from the side while the man threw the slurry over Ms Zhou and ran off. When she recovered she found the stench overwhelming and went to the police station to report it, and the police investigated at once. Reviewing the surveillance footage of that stretch of road, they identified a man and a woman as the principal suspects, and on 3 July the Hanyang police arrested them. On examination the two suspects said they had seen prank videos online attracting a great deal of attention and had done this in search of excitement and novelty. The Hanyang police have now verified five incidents involving the couple. Both are in criminal detention for provoking a disturbance, and the case is under further investigation.

Distinguishing the offence of provoking a disturbance from conduct that is not a crime

Article 293 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China defines the offence of provoking a disturbance: a person who commits any of the following acts of provoking a disturbance, disrupting social order, is sentenced to criminal detention, public surveillance or fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years: (1) beating another person at will, where the circumstances are egregious;

(2) pursuing, intercepting, abusing or intimidating another person, where the circumstances are egregious;

(3) forcibly taking or demanding property, or wilfully damaging or occupying public or private property, where the circumstances are serious;

(4) creating a disturbance in a public place, causing serious disorder there. A person who gathers others to commit the acts in the preceding paragraph repeatedly, seriously disrupting social order, is sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five and not more than ten years, and may in addition be fined.

Under the Criminal Law, conduct constitutes the offence of provoking a disturbance only where the circumstances are egregious or serious, or where serious disorder is caused in a public place.

Whether conduct amounts to that offence therefore turns on whether the circumstances are serious or egregious, which may be assessed by reference to the following factors.

1. The manner and means of the conduct. These determine how harmful the conduct is to the victim, so in judging whether the circumstances are serious it should be asked whether violence or threats were used and whether the conduct was carried out openly or in an organised way.

2. The direct harmful result and the indirect adverse consequences. The direct result is the harm the conduct does to society; the indirect consequences are the adverse effects it has or the harm it indirectly causes. Whether the victim was driven to suicide, whether heavy loss of public or private property was caused, and whether serious disorder was caused in a public place are all important in judging whether the circumstances are serious.

3. The time and place of the conduct. The same act committed at a different time or in a different place has a different social impact: a disturbance in a public place by day is of course more harmful than one at night in the remote countryside.

4. The person's previous record. That record shows how blameworthy the person is and how readily he can be reformed. A person who has provoked disturbances repeatedly, has not mended his ways after correction and behaves badly is very likely to be found guilty of the offence.

Where the provocation is minor and the harm slight, it can only be treated as an ordinary unlawful act. The basis for punishment is Article 26 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Penalties for Administration of Public Security, under which a person who commits any of the following acts is detained for not less than five and not more than ten days and may in addition be fined not more than RMB 500; where the circumstances are relatively serious, the person is detained for not less than ten and not more than fifteen days and may in addition be fined not more than RMB 1,000:

(1) gathering a group to fight;

(2) pursuing or intercepting another person;

(3) forcibly taking or demanding property, or wilfully damaging or occupying public or private property;

(4) other acts of provoking a disturbance.

In the Wuhan case the two suspects, seeking traffic and excitement, threw excrement over innocent passers-by on several occasions. Such conduct not only seriously affected the appearance and health of others but was bound to cause disorder in public order.

Ordinary users and internet personalities alike must obey the law

Entertainment has its limits and pranks have a bottom line. Short video is a booming industry, and in a market where traffic is everything some people will stop at nothing to become famous. They want to catch the eye and become known quickly, and in doing so cross the red line of the law; then, when trouble follows, they try to brazen it out by claiming that they do not know the law.

The law is not sentimental. Everyone should understand that in a society governed by law each person is answerable for his own conduct, and that whenever and wherever a wrong is done and another is harmed, the legal consequences must be borne.