Criminal Law Discussion

Author: Wang Zuofu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Excerpt
Secondly, improving the criminal legislation for combating corruption and promoting integrity is essential to make it more complete and systematic. Currently, crimes such as bribery, accepting bribes, and abuse of power, which are the targets of anti-corruption efforts, are all official crimes. However, under the current Criminal Code, crimes involving the abuse of power are scattered across several categories, with the "Dereliction of Duty" chapter only encompassing a part of official crimes. Such a provision fails to establish a complete legal system for official crimes, which are characterized by the misuse of power and the breach of duty, nor does it highlight their special harmful nature in the Criminal Code or establish corresponding principles for handling them. Therefore, we propose considering the creation of a separate "Criminal Code for the Punishment of Public Officials' Violations of Duty," which would comprehensively and systematically regulate various forms of dereliction and incompetence by public officials.
We envision this law could include three categories of official crimes:
1. Profit-driven crimes involving the violation of duty, including bribery, accepting bribes, misappropriation of public funds and property, unclear sources of substantial property, failure to report overseas deposits, and could also include crimes like waste and extravagance. For these crimes, additional applicable penalties such as qualification penalties and property penalties should be prescribed.
2. Non-profit-driven intentional crimes involving the violation of duty, including all non-profit-driven violations of duty crimes in the "Dereliction of Duty" chapter of the current Criminal Code and other chapters, such as the crime of torture, the crime of retaliating against or framing others, the crime of abuse of power for personal gain, the crime of leaking state secrets, and could also include crimes like abuse of power, neglect of duty, and failure to report knowledge of wrongdoing.
3. Negligent crimes involving the violation of duty, including the crime of dereliction of duty and the crime of negligent leakage of state secrets. Since these crimes are not intentional abuses of power, penalties for them should not be excessively severe.
We believe that creating a "Criminal Code for the Punishment of Public Officials' Violations of Duty" would be significant for the following reasons:
(1) It would address the current fragmented provisions for official crimes in the Criminal Code, which fail to highlight their unique harmful nature, thereby systematizing the legislation for official crimes andly reflecting the distinct stance and policies of the Party and government on combating corruption, opposing bureaucracy, and improving the style of state organs.
(2) A dedicated "Criminal Code for the Punishment of Public Officials' Violations of Duty" itself serves as a powerful deterrent and a systematic textbook for moral and legal education for public officials, helping to strengthen their legal awareness and prevent the occurrence of official crimes.
(3) With this separate code in place, any amendments or supplements regarding official crimes would only need to be made within this code, avoiding disruptions to the content and system of the Criminal Code and reducing redundancy and chaos caused by numerous modifications and additions. At the same time, it would also contribute to the improvement of China's entire legal framework for integrity.
Currently, relevant authorities in China are drafting basic administrative regulations such as the "Civil Servant Law," the "Judge Law," and the "Procurator Law" to regulate how public officials exercise their powers legally. However, the implementation of these regulations ultimately requires the Criminal Code as its backing, otherwise, it would be difficult to ensure their effective enforcement. Therefore, creating a "Criminal Code for the Punishment of Public Officials' Violations of Duty" would not only ensure close coordination and complementarity between administrative regulations and the Criminal Code, forming a complete legal system for integrity but also guarantee that various administrative regulations can fully