The new drunk driving rules come into effect today, and the proponents responded to the controversy

The new drunk driving rules come into effect today.

On the 18th, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued the "Opinions on Handling Criminal Cases of Dangerous Driving While Intoxicated" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions" in the 2023 edition). The "Opinions" will come into force on December 28, 2023, and the "Opinions of the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Driving Motor Vehicles While Intoxicated" (Fa Fa [2013] No. 15) (hereinafter referred to as the 2013 "Opinions") shall be repealed at the same time.

In the "Opinions", two sets of figures of 80 mg/100 ml and 150 mg/100 ml have attracted attention. From "80" to "150", has the standard for conviction of drunk driving changed? Does the increase in the standard of criminal prosecution mean the relaxation of drunk driving management? What impact will the implementation of the new regulations have on local law enforcement and justice? Recently, Chinanews.com had a dialogue with Shi Jie, a lawyer from Sichuan Dingli Law Firm, who is a proposer of China's drunk driving conviction and a member of the 11th and 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Data map

01

A tragedy and a proposal

During the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2010, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) received a proposal called "Proposal on Adding New Charges of Dangerous Driving", which stemmed from the "Sun Weiming case" in which four people died and one person was seriously injured due to drunk driving. In May 2009, the court sentenced Sun Weiming to death for endangering public safety by dangerous means, which he immediately executed.

As the second-instance lawyer of the case, Shi Jie recalled to Chinanews.com that afterwards, Sun Weiming, who had just entered the age of establishment, said that he regretted that he regretted causing harm to the victim and his family, and also regretted that his ideals and future were ruined because of a few glasses of wine. "This case had a particularly big impact on me, and I was thinking, is there any regret medicine in this world? The answer is no, because the law looks at the results. ”

Since then, as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Shi Jie began to think about promoting the adjustment of legislation, and began to inquire about information and conduct research from various parties, hoping to avoid the recurrence of tragedies as much as possible and reduce the injuries caused by drunk driving and social management costs.

Shi Jie's proposal for "criminalizing drunk driving" has been highly valued and adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. In February 2011, the Criminal Law Amendment (VIII) was passed, and came into force in May of that year, and the crime of dangerous driving was officially included in Article 133 of the Criminal Law of the mainland.

Shi Jie said that since the reform and opening up, automobiles have quickly entered people's lives, and there has been a collision with China's traditional wine culture. Before drunk driving was criminalized, the Road Traffic Management Regulations (later replaced by the Road Traffic Safety Law) also had relevant provisions, but whether drunk driving or drunk driving, they all belonged to the category of administrative punishment, deducting points, fines, and the most severe was to revoke the driver's license for half a year or administrative detention for 15 days. At that time, drunk driving was a relatively common phenomenon, and although people knew that drunk driving was a violation of the law, they did not have much understanding of the consequences that such behavior might cause to themselves and others.

In the more than 10 years since drunk driving was criminalized, "don't drink while driving, don't drive when drinking" has become a common action and consensus among the people of the whole country. In April 2021, public data from the Ministry of Public Security showed that the proportion of drunk drivers per 100 vehicles inspected in 2020 was more than 70% lower than before the "drunk driving was criminalized". With the number of motor vehicles and drivers maintaining an average annual growth of 18 million and 26 million people, the national traffic safety situation is generally stable, and the number of casualties caused by drunk driving has decreased by more than 20,000 compared with the previous decade, saving tens of thousands of families from being broken and returning to poverty.

In Shi Jie's view, these two sets of data that rise and fall, representing that drunk driving has become a model for the people to fear the law in their hearts.

02

Scientific adjustment rather than relaxation of management

Recently, some public opinion has questioned the issue of the criminal standard for drunk driving in the 2023 version of the "Opinions", to which Shi Jie responded.

The 2013 version of the "Opinions" stipulates that driving a motor vehicle on the road with a blood alcohol content of 80 mg/100 ml or more is considered to be driving a motor vehicle while intoxicated, and is convicted and punished as the crime of dangerous driving in accordance with the provisions of Article 133-1, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Law.

Article 4 of the 2023 version of the Opinions stipulates that if a motor vehicle is driven on the road and the breath alcohol content test shows that the blood alcohol content reaches 80 mg/100 ml or more, the public security organ shall decide whether to file the case in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law and these Opinions. Where the circumstances are obviously minor and the harm is not great, and it is not considered a crime, the case is not to be filed.

Article 12 stipulates that where drunk driving has any of the following circumstances, and does not have the circumstances provided for in article 10 of these Opinions (aggravating circumstances), it may be found that the circumstances are obviously minor and the harm is not great, and it is to be handled in accordance with the provisions of article 13 of the Criminal Law and article 16 of the Criminal Procedure Law, including where the blood alcohol content is less than 150 mg/100 ml.

Article 14 stipulates that a suspended sentence shall be announced in accordance with law for drunk driving defendants who meet the requirements of Article 72 of the Criminal Law. Suspended sentences are generally not applicable in any of the following circumstances, including those with a blood alcohol content of more than 180 mg/100 ml.

Shi Jie told Chinanews that the core of the two judicial interpretations of the two judicial interpretations of the drunk driving dangerous driving crime is that the criminal standard has been adjusted from "80" to "150", and he believes that in addition to 15 aggravating circumstances, the criminal standard for drunk driving has been substantially adjusted, but this does not mean that the management of drunk driving has been relaxed.

Shi Jie believes that there should be a very rigorous scientific verification of how well people can tolerate a blood alcohol content of 80 mg/100 ml, whether exceeding this standard will lead to uncontrolled behavior, and whether it will cause harm to an unspecified number of people in the sense of the Criminal Code. After drunk driving was criminalized, Shi Jie has been thinking about this issue, and also suggested in the proposal of the two sessions that the criteria for judging drunk driving and drunk driving alcohol content can be scientifically adjusted according to the actual situation.

"This adjustment should be made on the basis of more than ten years of judicial practice and scientific determination, and it is more reasonable from the current point of view. Shi Jie said.

03

Further unify law enforcement and judicial standards

In addition to scientifically adjusting the criminal baseline for drunk driving, Shi Jie told Chinanews that the 2023 version of the "Opinions" has clearer sentencing standards.

The "Supreme People's Court's Sentencing Guiding Opinions on Common Crimes (II) (Provisional)," which came into trial in May 2017, provides for the sentencing of the crime of drunk driving and dangerous driving: "For defendants who drive a motor vehicle while intoxicated, the defendant's degree of intoxication, the type of motor vehicle, the road on which the vehicle is traveled, the speed at which the vehicle is traveled, whether actual harm has been caused, and the admission of guilt and remorse, shall be comprehensively considered to accurately convict and sentence. Where the circumstances are obviously minor and the harm is not great, criminal punishment is not to be convicted and punished; ”

Since then, relevant regulations have been introduced in many places. For example, the Minutes of the Meeting on Several Issues Concerning the Handling of 'Drunk Driving' Cases issued by Zhejiang Province in 2019 stipulates that "those who drive a car while intoxicated, do not have the above eight aggravating circumstances, and admit guilt and repentance, and meet the conditions for applying a suspended sentence, may be given a suspended sentence in accordance with the law." Where the alcohol content is less than 170mg/100ml, and there is no of the above 8 aggravating circumstances, and the circumstances of the crime are minor, no prosecution or criminal punishment may be waived. Where the alcohol content is less than 100mg/100ml, and there are no of the 8 aggravating circumstances mentioned above, and the harm is not great, it may be considered that the circumstances are significantly minor, and it will not be transferred for review for prosecution. ”

According to Shi Jie, the crime of dangerous driving is a "behavior offense" and constitutes a crime as long as the conditions prescribed by law are met. Therefore, for drunk driving, it should be emphasized that the responsibility should not be pursued after what consequences are caused, but that this behavior should be stopped before the harm occurs, that is, as long as the blood alcohol content reaches a certain level, it is determined that if this behavior is allowed to cause harm to others, it will be punished by law, so as to form a high-voltage line that cannot be touched.

However, the standards vary from place to place, and in judicial practice, the restrictions have begun to be continuously relaxed, and in fact, the sentence is based on the harmful consequences of drunk driving, and there has been judicial chaos. The implementation of the new regulations means that the 'two supreme courts and two ministries' have assumed the responsibility of unifying the sentencing standards for drunk driving. Shi Jie pointed out.

Since the criminalization of drunk driving, the idea of "wasting judicial resources" has been heard endlessly. Shi Jie still believes that a simple discussion of judicial costs will lead to new problems, and the key is not to sacrifice life safety on the grounds of reducing judicial costs, the key is that we should strictly enforce the law and avoid the occurrence of casualties as much as possible, and follow up on judicial interpretations, scientifically define people's tolerance for blood alcohol content, and unify drunk driving management standards.

According to Chinanews.com K30