So under what conditions, swearing can easily become an "illegal act" and then be punished by law?
On the legal level, this issue mainly depends on whether swearing is "open" and the severity of the consequences.
The so-called "openness" means being open and unscrupulous in public or in a way that can be heard or seen by many people. Not only in real public places such as stations, squares, restaurants and shopping malls, but also in virtual public places such as online forums, post bars, WeChat groups and QQ groups.
The so-called "consequences" are the influence and function of swearing on the scolded.
If the swearing behavior is "blatant" and "has certain consequences", the swearing person may face the following three legal responsibilities:
I. Administrative responsibilities
"Publicly" insulting others, violating the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, and facing the legal consequences of administrative detention and fines.
Administrative responsibility generally refers to administrative punishment, that is, administrative organs (public security) impose corresponding administrative penalties on offenders according to relevant administrative punishment laws and regulations, such as warnings, fines, detentions, etc. that we often hear.
According to the "Public Security Administration Punishment Law", anyone who publicly insults others, if the circumstances are minor, shall be detained for less than five days or fined less than 500 yuan; If the circumstances are serious, they may be detained for more than five days and less than ten days, and may also be fined up to five hundred yuan.
Second, criminal responsibility.
"Publicly" insulting others, if the circumstances seriously violate the criminal law, constitutes the crime of insult, slander, provocation and trouble, and faces the legal consequences of losing freedom.
According to Article 246 of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), the crime of insulting and slandering: whoever publicly insults others by violence or other means or fabricates facts to slander others, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance or deprivation of political rights. The "other methods" in this provision include verbal abuse.
Generally speaking, criminal responsibility can only be assumed when the consequences caused by swearing are extremely serious (such as spreading all over the country or causing the death of the victim). Insult is a crime of private prosecution (the victim sues himself), but there are also special circumstances: it seriously endangers social order and national interests.
In addition, insulting others at will in public places, causing serious confusion, will also violate the crime of stirring up trouble.
Three. civil liability
Those who "openly" insult others and cause mental damage or other civil rights losses to others need to bear corresponding civil liability for compensation.
According to the relevant provisions of the Civil Code, the personality right of natural persons is protected by law. These rights include the right to health, reputation, honor and privacy. Openly abusing others will harm their mental health and reduce their social evaluation, and with other possible losses, the infringed person can make corresponding relief and compensation. (such as stopping infringement, apologizing, compensating for losses, etc.). ).
The specific application of the above three legal responsibilities should be combined with the following two aspects:
1. The extent to which public swearing infringes on others' personality rights, such as health damage (mainly mental damage), reputation loss (declining social evaluation), honor loss, privacy exposure damage, etc.
2. The way, content and degree of public abuse (the severity of abuse in front of 10 people is quite different from that in front of 100 people).
Like the girl who was scolded in the news, her guardian can file a civil lawsuit and ask the other party to apologize, restore her reputation and compensate for mental losses. Even if the girl doesn't sue at home, now that the video is uploaded to the Internet, the swearing person may have to bear the corresponding administrative responsibility.
How can we protect ourselves?
If you are insulted by others, you must keep good evidence, good evidence and good evidence.
Public places can require friends, relatives or passers-by around them to keep certain video materials or monitoring materials and other related video materials (the more complete the better).
Related links, screenshots and other materials should be left on the network.
Swearing is not what you want. You have to worry that one day it will really come out of your mouth and cause serious consequences to others or yourself!