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Criminal Law is enacted in accordance with the principle of combining punishment with leniency. The Law governs Tasks, Basic Principles, and Scope of Application of the Criminal Law, Crimes, Punishments, The Concrete Application Of Punishments, Crimes of Endangering National Security, Crimes of Endangering Public Security, Crimes of Undermining the Order of Socialist Market Economy, Crimes of Infringing Upon the Rights of the Person and the Democratic Rights of Citizens, Crime of Encroaching on Property, Crimes of Disrupting the Order of Social Administration, Crimes of Endangering the Interests of National Defense, Graft and Bribery, Crimes of Dereliction of Duty, Crimes of Violation of Duty by Military Personnel Supplementary Articles. Criminal Law was Adopted by the Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress on July 1, 1979 and amended by the Fifth Session of the Eighth National People's Congress on March 14, 1997. Criminal Law, in 452 articles, comes into effect on October 1, 1997. In the PRC ideology has infected its understanding of the cause of crime. Instead of being connected to human nature or malfeasance as in the West, the prevailing view has been that crime is a result of a class society.
The thesis is that in a truly socialist and classless society the causes of crime and immorality would be rooted out and thus there would be no need (or at least only a minimal need) for an elaborate apparatus of social order and management of criminal activity. Of course, since 1949 when the PRC established, it has become increasingly obvious, even to the officials of the PRC that crime has continued and that many crimes have no plausible or traceable class-based explanation. So the socialist theory of crime eradication has been quietly dropped. What this means ultimately is that Chinese moral culture will have a continuing need to control crime and minimize its occurrence and effect in the society. PRC was also affected by a series of political events and class struggle.
Such political events made the situation became worse and because of the chaos of political atmosphere, the rule of law is totally impossible in China for the period 1950 - 1980, until the end of Cultural Revolution. In the PRC, especially in its anti-crime campaigns of the 1980 s persons who engaged in criminal or illegal activity were considered "enemies of the people." In fact, not all anti-social behavior is handled by the courts. There are matters handed by the courts and there are matters handled by the Security Administration.
Personal principle According to the international law, on the basis of the Nationality Principle, Chinese authorities have jurisdiction to prosecute and punish the person who violates Chinese criminal law and regulations within the territory of China or abroad. But this is not applicable to foreigner as they are not Chinese citizens. This principle is not commonly used by any countries in the world not except in China. Protective principle This principle stated that if one person violated or committed crimes with or within the territory of country, they will be prosecuted under the criminal law of that country. This principle is rarely adopted because it is difficult to sue a person when he committed crimes outside the country. Universal principle This principle stated that the criminal law is applicable to the offences committed by any person.
This principle is widely accepted by the world as it combined the above three principles and it is also the most comprehensive. The Chinese Criminal Law also adopted this principle that it is applicable to any person who committed crimes aboard ships or aircrafts of the PRC. PRC also adopted the principle of territorial application; the criminal responsibility of foreigners who enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunity will be resolved through diplomatic channels.
For the so-called Chinese language is a really forward child, a most recalcitrant thing in the hand of the logical-minded. Chinese legal material abounds with inconsistent and imprecisely use of terminology. It was not until 1979 that the first codes of criminal law and criminal procedure law were enacted in China. The 1990 s have seen significant further reform of the criminal justice system which has mainly focused on criminal law and criminal procedure law. Although problems and difficulties remain, nonetheless the changes are a milestone in the reform of Chinas legal system. The following are the basic guiding principles of The Criminal Law of PRC.
This meant if the behaviour of a person is not defined by any articles of law as a crime, that is not a crime. It aimed at avoiding the tyranny of conviction and sentencing to people which law is easily made by the ruler through his words or liking. This principle is commonly adopted most of the countries. So it is important that null crime, nulla point sin lege is stated in law, but it has not become reality until the revised Criminal law in 1997 because the 1979 Criminal Law still allowed the application of the Law by analogy subject to approval of the Supreme Peoples Court. However, many Chinese scholars and officials regard it as the spirit of Chinese Law and it can serve as the basic principles of the Criminal Law. The use of analog was seen as the supplementary to the Law and represented a flexible application of the old and rigid principle of null crime, nulla point sin lege.
Since the early years of PRC, the concept of analogy had long regarded as the important principle in Criminal Law even when the first completed Criminal Law was enacted in 1979. It was not after 1988, the idea of abolition of analogy was once again brought to the consideration. It is because that this kind of analogy is out-dated compared to the worlds legal system. The legal position and the trend towards the null crime, nulla point sin lege in the worlds major legal systems; the possibility of the co-existence of null crime, nulla point sin lege with analogy; and preference in case of conflict between null crime, nulla point sin lege and analogy. Some Chinese scholars think that the abolition of analogy was necessary and it was a universal principle under null crime, nulla point sin lege in all major countries under the rule of law. The adoption of null crime, nulla point sin lege is a must and analogy with it is mutually exclusive.
It is important to know that the upholding of null crime, nulla point sin lege necessarily required the abolition of analogy in criminal law. Finally, it was decided that the principle of null crime, nulla point sin lege should be incorporated into the revised criminal law in 1997. It is clearly stated that All criminal acts expressly stipulated by law as crimes shall be determined as such and punished according to the law; acts not expressly defined by law as criminal shall not be judged so and shall not be punished.
The principle of equality before the law was brought to consideration in the post-Mao era. where it was argued vehemently that whether equality before the law meant only equality in the application of the law or also included the making of law. As the officials and some scholars thought, the major concern of upholding the principle was mainly to prevent privilege being accorded to officials of all ranks; that is, law was to attack tigers and files alike. In fact, the principle not included in the substantive law (Criminal Law) but was incorporated into procedural (the Criminal Procedure Law) or organic laws (the Organic Laws of the Court and Procurator e).
This kind of principle also led to the reinstatement of the equality principle in the 1982 Constitution. So it is very important to add the principle of equality before the law as it was stated in most worlds legal system, this principle serves as an important concept to embody Every one is equal before the law. The incorporation of equality before the law makes the Criminal Law of PRC become even modernized. It is also important to note that Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought as a guiding principle of criminal law has now been legitimately abolished which perhaps means the final burying of the class nature of the criminal law of PRC. Although the Chinese government still emphasizes the importance of this kind of ideology, it was the fact that its influence has dropped compare to the early years of PRC. (Before the economic reform in 1980 s).
This modification conforms the trend of the worlds legal system as well. Proportionality (Principle of Zuixing Xiang Shining) This is one of the important guiding principles of the Criminal Law of PRC that incorporated in the 1979 Criminal Law. It was the policy of combining punishment with leniency, the meaning of leniency refers to those who confess and severity to those who resist in the determination of sentence. This principle is important that the Court give a judgment or sentence according to suitable level of severity of that crime. It is stated that The severity of punishments must be commensurate with the crime committed by an offender and the criminal responsibility he bears.
This is what the Chinese scholars referred to as the principle of proportionality (Zuixing Xiang Shining Yuanze). Without the adoption of the principle of proportionality, it can give loopholes in the law for officials in power to escape legal sanctions or avoid serve punishment. The emphasis on confession is also potentially in conflict with the presumption of innocence. As we have mentioned before, the guiding principle of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought has abolished to adapt the trend of worlds legal system. The main theory of this principle is to make sure that there will be a balance between various provisions of the Law on punishing crimes.
The adoption of this principle has given new perspective to the criminal law. There are four important aspects of the principle. First, it is the basis for the General Provisions in dealing with issues of preparation to commit a crime, attempted crimes, incomplete crimes, joint offence, recidivism, and voluntary give up. Second, the Specific Provisions of the Law shall have a balanced approach in defining punishment for criminal offence according to the seriousness of the crime. Third, the nature of the crime and its social harm shall be the main factors in judicial determination of punishment. Finally, it has been meaningful that it means the Chinese principle of proportionality is not purely a reflection of the backward-looking philosophy of retributive justice. (mutually revenge, an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth).
It is important that the aim of the educational function of the criminal law has not been abolished. From this point of view, it can be seen that the traditional forward-looking utilitarian views on justice still existed. Some articles in the criminal law has not been revised in the 1997 revised Criminal Law such as Article 57, it gives judge a great latitude in imposing criminal punishment. This loopholes lead to the unbalance of Proportionality as the judicial authority has long emphasized the accurate use of law in verdict. However, there are some revisions to avoid misuse of leniency in order to achieve that intended purpose. , it also further elaborates a number of articles dealing with aggravating and, in particular, mitigating circumstances. It stated that the imposition of punishment below the minimum punishment prescribed by the law must be approved by the Supreme Peoples Court.
The Criminal Law has given leniency under specific circumstances, such as voluntary surrender as not only voluntary surrender to the authority after committing a crime, but also includes the truthful confession of crimes committed. Furthermore, any criminal suspects, criminal defendants or convicted criminals who voluntarily and truthfully confess crimes not yet discovered by the judicial authorities will also be treated leniently. Offenders who provide information or other assistance to investigatory organizations in solving crimes committed by other people will also get lenient punishment. The above articles improve the old criminal law in 1979 in handling leniency, but it should note that their still loopholes in the revised criminal law in terms of elaborate and detailed provisions on aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Today, there still many problems exist in the criminal law, such as the unbalanced judgment between different cases with same crime. This is due to the general system of Chinese Law as China adopts Civil Law system which Chinese judicial authorities often neglect the use of case law in each sentence.
The judge always only refers to law itself but rarely refers to cases. This is the basic reason lead to the unbalanced sentence. In addition, China territory is too large that it is almost impossible to get the same judgment in all provinces. Although the Criminal Law has been revised in 1997, there are still many articles, its meaning seem to be too vague so that it will be difficult when interpret them.
The judge still has large latitude when sentence where the interpretation of law is not so accurate. Therefore, a proper application of the principle of proportionality will be a crucial point in the future operation of the Criminal Law.
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