When Innovation Diffuses into Legal Systems: On a Public Disclosure System as China’s Harassment Punishment

BRYCE BIN LIN

ABSTRACT: Public sexual harassment remains more prevalent than workplace sexual harassment, yet existing enforcement mechanisms in China are ill- equipped to combat it, given the absence of effective enforceable legislation against such harassment. Reputational sanctions present a viable alternative governance mechanism to supplement the current legal framework. Chinese women’s online resistance has leveraged this approach through stigma reversal, simultaneously reducing societal tolerance for public sexual harassment and gaining policy attention. The diffusion of this mechanism into public law is accelerated by the construction of China’s social credit system, with its capacity to revitalize the reason-giving regime, and demonstrates scalability. Such innovation diffusion would elevate and supersede this extra-legal practice, thereby eliminating the systemic risks inherent in unstructured civic enforcement. The tripartite mechanism of normativity, coercion, and imitation has channelled the innovation diffusion of reputational sanctions from informal social practice to formal legal adoption. This trajectory materialized through the Public Disclosure System for Sexual Harassment Punishments, an innovative law enforcement strategy adopted in Hangzhou that achieved measurable cost-efficiency while triggering substantial controversy regarding its legitimacy. Although concerns over this policy persist, regarding potential breaches of both the principle prohibiting improper connection and the principle of proportionality, along with the danger of irreparable reputational damage, this article contends that the long-term innovative value of Hangzhou’s practice justifies its manageable implementation challenges.

KEYWORDS: Public sexual harassment, Reputational sanctions, Innovation diffusion, Law enforcement

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Macau Journal of Global Legal Studies, Volume 2 (2025)