On March 1, it was learned from the Dazhou Municipal Public Security Bureau that the Amendment (11) to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China was officially implemented from now on.
According to reports, compared with before, 17 new crimes were added, 10 crimes were cancelled, 17 new crimes were added to the Supplementary Provisions on the Determination of Crimes (VII), and the original 10 crimes were adjusted or cancelled. Since then, China's criminal law has provided for a total of 483 crimes.
In addition, there are several changes worth paying attention to: persons who have reached the age of 12 but not yet reached the age of 14, who commit intentional homicide or intentional injury, causing death, and whose circumstances are heinous, should bear criminal responsibility with the approval of the Supreme People's Procuratorate; raising the "age of sexual consent" in specific circumstances, severely punishing the rape of underage girls, as long as sexual relations occur, regardless of whether the other party agrees or not, will be investigated for criminal responsibility; "impersonation to go to university" and other acts are defined as crimes; the new crime of illegally collecting human genetic resources and smuggling human genetic resources materials is established. as well as crimes of obstructing drug administration.
On December 26, 2020, the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress passed the Criminal Law Amendment (XI), which will be formally implemented on March 1, 2021.
According to reports, this revision mainly focuses on the governance and protection of criminal law in the fields of maintaining people's life safety, safe production, financial market order, intellectual property rights, ecological environment, and public health security related to epidemic prevention and control. The following crimes are arranged according to the order of the provisions of the criminal law, with a total of 22 crimes, of which 17 new crimes such as the crime of throwing objects at a height have been added, and 10 crimes have been abolished.
1. Crimes of obstructing safe driving. 2. The crime of forcing or organizing others to operate in violation of regulations and risks. 3. Crimes of dangerous operation. 4. The crime of producing, selling, or providing counterfeit drugs. 5. The crime of producing, selling, or providing inferior drugs. 6. Crimes of obstructing drug administration. 7. The crime of fraudulently issuing securities. 8. The crime of stealing, spying, bribing, or illegally providing trade secrets for overseas. 9. Crimes of sexual assault by persons with nursing duties. 10. Assault on the police. 11. Impersonation of scapegoats. 12. The crime of throwing objects from a high altitude. 13. The crime of collecting illegal debts. 14. Crimes of infringing upon the honor and honor of heroes and martyrs. 15. The crime of organizing participation in gambling outside the country (territory). 16. Crimes of illegally collecting human genetic resources and smuggling human genetic resources materials. 17. Illegal implantation of gene editing and cloning of embryos. 18. The crime of illegally hunting, acquiring, transporting, or selling terrestrial wild animals. 19. The crime of destroying protected areas. 20. The crime of illegally introducing, releasing or discarding invasive alien species. 21. Crimes of obstructing the administration of stimulants. 22. Crimes of dereliction of duty in food and drug supervision.
At the same time, the amendment to the Criminal Law has six major points of view, which respond to recent social hot concerns.
One of the focal points is that the minimum age of criminal responsibility has been lowered to 12 years of age. It is worth noting that the amendment makes adjustments to the relevant provisions on the age of criminal responsibility, stipulating that a person who has reached the age of 12 but is not yet 14 years old shall bear criminal responsibility if he commits the crime of intentional homicide or intentional injury, causes death to a person, or causes serious injury by particularly cruel means, and the circumstances are heinous, and the prosecution is approved by the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
In recent years, the phenomenon of juvenile delinquency in crime has been serious, and some heinous criminal cases have occurred, with cruel means and serious consequences. However, the criminal suspect is younger than 14 years old, cannot be investigated for criminal responsibility, has a strong social reaction, and the contradiction is very large. Amendment (XI) to the Penal Code lowers the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years. This time the adjustment is again deliberate. First of all, only the two crimes of intentional homicide and intentional injury and causing serious consequences can be prosecuted for criminal liability, such as causing death, causing serious disability by particularly cruel means, and the circumstances are heinous. Second, special provisions have been made in the procedure, and the prosecution must be approved by the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Only by meeting these two conditions can a suspect who has reached the age of 12 but is not yet 14 years old be prosecuted for criminal responsibility.
The second focus is to raise the "age of sexual consent" in specific situations and severely punish the rape of underage girls. Whoever has special duties such as guardianship, adoption, care, education, or medical treatment of a minor woman who has reached the age of 14 but not yet reached the age of 16 shall have sexual relations with the minor woman shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years;
The third focus is that "impersonation goes to college" is criminalized. The provisions of the draft can more accurately crack down on imposter organizers, instigators and job-related crimes behind them, and are also conducive to achieving misdemeanors and minor punishments, felonies and heavy punishments, and the integration of criminal responsibility and punishment and the integration of reason and law.
Fourth, Article 39 of the newly revised Criminal Law Amendment stipulates that if a gene-edited or cloned human embryo is implanted into a human body or animal, or a gene-edited or cloned animal embryo is implanted into a human body, if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also be fined; if the circumstances are particularly serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined.
In addition, the newly revised Criminal Law Amendment also establishes the crimes of illegal collection of human genetic resources, smuggling of human genetic resources and materials, and obstruction of drug management. In fact, illegal collection of human genetic resources and other acts have occurred several times in the domestic pharmaceutical industry in recent years, including WuXi AppTec, BGI, Aide Biologics, AstraZeneca and other enterprises have been punished for this, and the criminalization of illegal collection of human genetic resources will continue to sound the alarm bell for the standardization of the industry.
Focus five, the new addition of high-altitude projectile crimes and environmental pollution crimes. Due to the construction and increase of high-rise buildings in the city, the phenomenon of high-altitude projectiles occurs from time to time, resulting in bad consequences. Although the SPC has issued relevant guidance, it is still troublesome to deal with those that cause bad consequences to high-altitude projectiles. Now, the Criminal Law Amendment (XI) adds the "crime of high-altitude projectile", as long as the circumstances of high-altitude projectile are serious, it can be punished by one year's imprisonment, criminal detention or public surveillance. Originally an immoral act, this time there are provisions in the criminal law and criminal rules have been added, which can effectively curb the occurrence of such a phenomenon.
Sixth, a new offence has been added: the offence of illegally introducing, releasing or discarding invasive alien species. Those who illegally introduce alien species, release or discard them and cause serious consequences shall bear criminal responsibility. The introduction of some animal and plant varieties to other countries and regions must go through certain procedures and assess risks, otherwise it may cause very serious damage to our ecological environment, break the ecological balance, and cause serious consequences. Criminal penalties in such cases are also very necessary.
The implementation of the amendments to the Criminal Law will effectively deter violations of laws and regulations, and at the same time effectively safeguard the rule of law and order in society.