Attorney Shao Shiwei | A Showcase of Husbands’ Conduct After Their Wives Are Arrested

 

“  According to statistics, male offenders account for approximately 90% of criminal cases[1]. Therefore, a common scene during court hearings involves female prosecutors, female judges (as women are predominant within the state system), and myself as the defense counsel (a drama of three women) surrounding the seemingly weak, pitiable, and helpless defendant (male). In criminal cases, female parties account for only about 10%. ”

 

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Author of this article: Attorney Shao Shiwei

 

 

Based solely on my own case-handling experience, crimes committed by female parties commonly fall into categories such as the crime of organizing prostitution, the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits, and the crime of illegal business operations. These cases generally involve corporate liability, and it is more common for wives to be arrested as employees.

For example, a madam at a nightclub was arrested as an employee because the company was involved in organizing prostitution; in recent years, numerous financial companies collapsed, resulting in the arrest of a large number of sales personnel; due to the lack of relevant qualifications or licenses (such as for futures trading or medical devices), companies were characterized as engaging in illegal business operations or selling goods with counterfeit registered trademarks, leading to the arrest of employees handling specific business operations within the company...

If a wife is arrested, what are husbands doing outside? The situations I have generally encountered include the following:

 

 

 

1. The Caring Type.

A family member of a client I previously represented was a tall and thin uncle in his fifties or sixties. After receiving the detention notice sent by the public security organs, he stayed awake all night and came to the law firm to communicate with me immediately. When signing the entrustment agreement, I saw that his hands were trembling.

Later, when I went to the detention center for a meeting, he wrote a very long letter full of love and asked me to read it to his wife. The letter began: 'Teacher Li, you have suffered...' (omitting one thousand words of intense emotion here).

This case involved the collapse of a financial company and the arrest of its employees. Although my client was a part-time salesperson who joined the company after retirement, she was arrested as a company employee. Later, regarding the refund of funds to compensate victims (the circumstance of compensation can help secure bail pending trial for the party), this uncle resolutely sold his house in Shanghai. Within a few days, he transferred the proceeds from the sale as compensation funds to the Procuratorate. (Of course, the case ultimately achieved a favorable outcome.)

The client in this case truly touched me; it was quite moving. I felt like I believed in true love again.

 

2. The Performative Type.

Money never lies. Some husbands appear extremely anxious for their wives, shedding tears and snot while telling the lawyer how much they have contributed to the family and how deeply they love their wives. However, when it comes to discussing legal fees, they say, 'Okay, let me consider it and contact you later' (And then? There was no follow-up...).

(This Sad Frog meme can also be interpreted as me watching my legal fees go down the drain.)

 

3. The Indifferent Type.

Some husbands feel that they might lose face if they do not engage a lawyer, given that relatives and children are watching. In a previous case, after the wife was arrested, the entire family was very concerned. A large crowd filled the conference room of the law firm, sitting around me. After discussing the case and completing the entrustment procedures, the family members went out first.

to wait for the elevator. He quietly said to me, 'Lawyer, actually, my relationship with her is quite ordinary.' (I was instantly at a loss for words...) P.S. The legal fees were paid by the elderly members of the family.

 

4. The Heartless Type.

Engaging a lawyer to meet the wife was primarily intended to communicate about divorce proceedings. Regardless of whether the wife cooperated, by the time she was released, the husband had already transferred most of the assets.

 

5. The Invisible Man.

Husbands of this type are like the Seventh Brother (Purple Baby) from Calabash Brothers. As mysterious invisible figures, they are a group inaccessible to lawyers. They seem to have forgotten that they even have a wife.
Two years ago, I handled a case involving the illegal absorption of public deposits at the Jing'an Court. One of the defendants was a junior executive at their company (an accomplice in my client's case). Her defense counsel during the trial was provided through legal aid (meaning the state-appointed lawyer was paid for by the state). According to my client, this junior executive, in order to protect her assets from being seized by the court, decisively discussed a 'fake divorce' with her husband before entering the detention center (there is no such thing as a 'fake divorce' in law; all divorce registrations are genuine divorces) and transferred all family property to her husband. The result? The husband absconded with the money and did not even bother to find a lawyer for his ex-wife. Tsk, tsk, tsk. At the time, I really shook my head upon hearing this.

 

Dear readers, having read this far, do you still believe in true love?

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Since wives are detained in detention centers, information can only be conveyed by lawyers. Sometimes, adhering to the simple idea that 'it is better to build a temple than to destroy a marriage,' kind-hearted lawyers (such as myself) may not tell the wives some cruel truths. Regarding this issue, my considerations are based on the following points:

1. After a party is detained, the lawyer is the only person from the outside world they can contact, aside from judicial authorities. If the husband is particularly egregious, the wife's psychological defenses may collapse (especially for those who are overly romantic...), leading to confused statements due to unclear thinking, which is highly unfavorable for the direction of the case. Whether it is a white lie or not, I intend to accompany the wives until the end.

2. Encountering those who are not thinking clearly, they might even want to fight with me (imagining the wives waving their handcuffs and shouting at me: 'You are talking nonsense! My hubby could never be such a person!' Tsk, just thinking about it is quite terrifying...).

3. Even if I do not say anything, can witty wives not guess? I do not want to play the villain. Let the husbands face their wives themselves. When family visits are permitted after the judgment, whether they wish to divorce or do something else, they can confront their wives directly.

4. In fact, what I fear most is empathizing too much with the client... Putting myself in the client's shoes, imagining their psychological state—whether they feel betrayal, despair, or doubt about life, or calmly accept everything—it might take quite some time to recover.

In summary, let the parties discover and face the so-called truth themselves gradually...

 

 

 

[1] Most Detailed Version – Comparison of Male and Female Crime Rates (https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/441695245?dt_platform=douban_broadcast&dt_dapp=1)