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Jilin infant murder sparks nationwide soul-searching
Police in Northeast China's Jilin Province Wednesday showed the body of a 2-month-old baby, who was allegedly killed by a car thief, to his parents and vowed to severely punish the thief in accordance with the law.

Car theft ends with baby strangled
A man who stole a car with a 2-month-old boy inside in Changchun, Jilin Province, confessed to police late Tuesday afternoon he had murdered the infant.

Missing baby's murder stirs up nationwide anger
Thousands of people gathered in a square in Changchun City, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, on Tuesday night to mourn the case of a baby who was apparently murdered by a thief who found the two-month-old boy sleeping in a car he had stolen.

Case  Details

Timeline of the case:

Suspect information
	Name: Zhou Xijun Age: 48 Status: A native in the Gongzhuling City of Jilin

View  Points

Weibo Voice:

@奏肖邦的夜曲:I was shocked when I learned of the death of the baby this morning. I was wondering if the murderer has a child? I thought it was just an accident that the car he stole was carrying a baby, but why did he kill the baby? Why couldn't he leave the kid in a hospital and drive away? You know we care about the child, not the car.

@Aike917:I hope the murderer will be punished severely. Meanwhile, the parents should reflect on their mistakes, because they cannot leave a child alone in a car or anywhere. The parents are also responsible for the incident.

@杨毅: I don't know why a person turned into a monster to kill a baby, but society should eradicate this kind of accident and never repeat the tragedy again.

Questions in discussion:

●What will the social effects of the case be?

Commentator Chen Jiaqu/ Beijing Morning Post:
The whole country's efforts to save the baby this time have been a good thing. The ordinary people use their practical actions to defend a civil society and moral norms.

Commentator Xie Weifeng/ www.qianlong.com:
Zhou's crime is a social nightmare. When the whole city was trying their best to save the baby and hoping things would turn out ok, the death of the baby is undoubtedly a hard blow for everyone.

●Should the parents be held responsible to the death of the baby?

Commentator Si Hanhan/the Youth Times:
Many children’s accidents in China are caused by the negligence of the parents. In the US and Australia, parents who leave the baby alone at home or in the car will lose the custodial rights and be punished by the law. I hope the parents in China could learn a lesson from the case in Changchun.

Tong Zongjin, associate professor of China University of Political Science and Law/ Sina Weibo:
I think the parents should be investigated for legal responsibility. However, China lacks a legal basis for penalizing parental negligence at present.

●Should Zhou be sentenced to death?

Wang Yunfan, legal expert/ the Beijing Times:
Zhou, committing the intentional murder crime and the crime of theft, should be sentenced to death. Some people are worried that Zhou confessed to police in order to get a lighter punishment. However, we should see that according to the criminal law, not all the criminals who confess to police can avoid the death penalty.

Author Wang Xiaoshan/ Sina Weibo:
I insist opposing death penalty. The death penalty cannot solve the problem, but only kill more people. Arbitrary death sentences may prevent people from confessing their crimes.

●Did the rapid spread of the information on Weibo force Zhou to kill the baby?

Official weibo account of Jilin Police/sina Weibo:
We should rethink whether our actions were right or not in this case. The fast message spread on Weibo, the large number of reports and the search of the whole city may sometimes make criminals desperate and cause them to do crazy things.

Wang Yuantao, reporter of the Aju Business/ sina weibo:
Zhou killed the baby at 8 am, when we had not noticed the case yet. If the news had spread on Weibo earlier, the suspect might have realized that he couldn’t run away and confessed to police instead of killing the baby.

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