In order to thoroughly implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law and implement the Party Central Committee's decisions and deployments on improving the criminal punishment enforcement system, the Supreme People's Court officially issued the "Provisions on Issues Concerning the Review of the Enforcement of Property Judgments in Handling Commutation and Parole Cases" (hereinafter referred to as the "Provisions") after deliberation and adoption by the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court.
Commutation and parole are important systems for changing the enforcement of criminal punishments, and linking the enforcement of property judgments with commutation and parole can, on the one hand, encourage convicts to actively perform the property judgments of effective criminal judgments and increase the enforcement rate of property judgments; on the other hand, it can enrich the criteria for judging the conditions for commutation and parole of "truly showing repentance and reform", so that there is a new starting point for strengthening the substantive trial of commutation and parole cases. However, there are also some problems that need to be solved urgently in the operation of the association mechanism, such as the inconsistency of association standards, the difficulty in judging the performance ability, and the difficulty of preventing mechanical association and excessive association. The "Provisions" provide systematic solutions to the above problems, which are of great significance for the fair handling of commutation and parole cases in accordance with the law, the correct handling of the relationship between commutation and parole and the enforcement of property judgments, and giving full play to the institutional functions of commutation and parole.
The "Provisions" make it clear that the implementation of property judgments is one of the important factors in judging whether a convict has truly shown repentance and reformation when handling commutation and parole cases. Where the performance of a convict's property judgment is not completed, the review of their ability to perform should be emphasized, and the review should be focused on the judgment of their ability to perform, to ensure the fairness of the application of commutation and parole.
The "Provisions" have unified the rules of association. Where convicts who have the ability to perform are required to complete their performance before their sentences can be commuted or released on parole; where they truly have the ability to perform and refuse to perform, they are not to be found to have truly shown repentance and reform, and their sentence or parole is not to be commuted; where they truly lack the ability to perform, it does not impact the determination of their expressions of repentance and reform. The "Provisions" also make it clear that after a convict has been sentenced to commutation or parole, if it is discovered that he has made false declarations or deliberately concealed assets, and the circumstances are serious, the commutation or parole shall be revoked, and the relevant supporting systems have been improved.
In view of the difficulty in judging the ability to perform in judicial practice, the "Provisions", on the basis of summarizing the experience and practices of various localities, proposes a judgment model that progressively determines the ability to perform on the basis of the implementation of the courts, combined with the convict's property declaration, actual property possession, and consumption during the sentence. The "Provisions" use the method of enumeration to clarify the circumstances of failure to perform, and define the criteria for judging the lack of performance capacity by means of positive proof and negative list, so as to enhance the operability of the judgment of performance ability.
The Provisions also reaffirm the principle of priority of civil liability. If convicts whose assets are insufficient to bear all civil compensation obligations, fines, or confiscation of property can actively perform their civil compensation obligations, they should be considered when determining whether they have truly shown repentance and reform. In this way, convicts are encouraged to actively fulfill their civil compensation obligations, actively repair damaged social relations, and enhance social harmony.
The "Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Issues Concerning the Review of the Enforcement of Property Judgments in Handling Commutation and Parole Cases" was passed by the 1910th meeting of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court on January 3, 2024, and is hereby promulgated, to take effect on May 1, 2024.
Supreme People's Court
April 29, 2024
Legal Interpretation [2024] No. 5
Supreme People's Court
Regarding the handling of commutation and parole cases, review of property judgments
Provisions on enforcement issues
(Adopted at the 1910th meeting of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court on January 3, 2024, to take effect on May 1, 2024)
These Provisions are drafted on the basis of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, and other legal provisions, combined with judicial practice, so as to ensure the fair handling of commutation and parole cases in accordance with law, and to correctly handle the relationship between commutation and parole and the enforcement of property judgments.
Article 1: People's courts handling commutation or parole cases must review the implementation of property judgments in the original effective criminal or attached civil judgments, and use this as one of the factors in judging whether the convict has truly shown repentance and reform.
Property judgments refer to judgments in effective criminal or civil judgments attached to criminal cases that determine that the convict has been lawfully recovered, ordered to make restitution, fines, or confiscated property, as well as judgments such as civil compensation obligations.
Article 2: People's courts reviewing the enforcement of property judgments shall use the notice of closure of the case, payment bills, and explanations of enforcement issued by the enforcing court as the basis for the review and judgment.
Where a people's court makes a judgment that multiple convicts bear joint and several liability for attached civil compensation, as long as some of them perform all of their compensation obligations, it may be found that enforcement of the judgment for attached civil compensation has been completed.
Where the convict's relatives perform on a property judgment on their behalf, it is to be viewed as the convict himself performing.
Article 3: Where enforcement of property judgments has not been completed, the people's courts shall focus on reviewing the convict's ability to perform.
The convict's ability to perform shall be judged on the basis of the actual implementation of the property judgment item, and in conjunction with the convict's asset declaration, actual possession of property, as well as spending in the prison or detention center, account balances, and so forth.
Article 4: Where convicts have the ability to perform on property judgments, they shall have their sentences commuted or released on parole only after they have been performed.
Where convicts truly have the ability to perform but do not do so, they are not to be found to have truly shown repentance and reform, and commutation or parole is generally not to be given except in circumstances provided for by law.
Where the convict truly lacks the ability to perform, it does not impact the determination that he truly has shown repentance and reform.
Where convicts have their sentences commuted due to major meritorious service, it is to be handled in accordance with relevant legal provisions, and is generally not affected by the performance of property judgments.
Article 5: In commutation or parole cases where enforcement of property judgments has not been completed, the people's courts shall focus on reviewing the following materials when accepting them:
(1) Materials related to the enforcement of property judgments, such as enforcement rulings, payment bills, and whether there are refusals to perform or obstruction of enforcement;
(2) Convicts' declaration materials for their personal assets;
(3) An explanation of the circumstances of the convict's actual possession of property by the relevant organization or unit;
(4) Notification materials that failure to perform on a property judgment might bear adverse consequences;
(5) Materials reflecting the convict's spending and account balances in prisons or detention centers;
(6) Other materials reflecting the implementation of the convict's property judgments.
Where the materials described above are incomplete, the criminal punishment enforcement organ applying for commutation or parole shall be notified to supplement them within 7 days, and where they are not submitted within the time limit, the case is not to be filed.
Article 6: In any of the following circumstances, where performance of a property judgment has not been completed, it shall be found that the convict truly has the ability to perform but does not perform:
(1) Refusing to give an account of the whereabouts of stolen money or goods;
(2) Concealing, concealing, or transferring property;
(3) Obstructing the enforcement of a property judgment;
(4) Refusal to declare or false declaration of assets.
Where convicts use methods such as borrowing their names or falsely reporting their purposes to spend money in prisons or detention centers, or where they clearly exceed the amount set by the criminal punishment enforcement organs without special reasons, it is to be viewed that they truly have the ability to perform but do not perform.
Sentences or parole may be commuted or parole only after 6 months have passed since the circumstances described above disappear or the convict's property judgment has been enforced.
Article 7: Where the enforcing court investigates and prosecutes and does not discover that there is property that can be used for enforcement, and does not have the circumstances listed in article 6 of these Provisions, it shall be found that they truly lack the capacity to perform.
Article 8: Where the convict's fines are waived by the enforcing court's ruling, the failure to complete performance of other property judgments does not impact the determination that they truly have shown repentance and reform, except where the convict truly has the ability to perform.
Where the judgment determines that the fine should be paid in installments, and the convict does not fail to pay it at the end of the time period, it does not impact the determination that he has truly shown repentance and reform.
Article 9: Where a sentence of confiscation of property is given, it shall be immediately enforced after the judgment takes effect, and the property to be enforced is the property lawfully owned by the convict at the time the judgment took effect. Except in the circumstances listed in the first paragraph of article 6 of these Provisions, the enforcement of a judgment on confiscation of property generally does not impact the determination that the convict has truly shown repentance and reform.
Article 10: In any of the following circumstances, convicts who bear civil compensation obligations do not impact the determination that they truly show repentance and reform:
(1) The obligation to compensate for civil compensation is fully performed, and the whereabouts of the plaintiff in the attached civil lawsuit are unknown or they refuse to accept it, and the performance money is deposited;
(2) Performing civil compensation obligations in installments, and there is no situation of failure to perform at the end of the time limit;
(3) The plaintiff in the attached civil lawsuit expresses forgiveness to the convict and waives civil compensation in writing.
Article 11: Where harm is caused by criminal conduct, and the victim independently initiates a civil compensation lawsuit, the people's courts handling commutation or parole cases should conduct a review of the implementation of the judgment on the compensation obligation determined in the relevant effective civil judgment, and comprehensively determine whether the convict has truly shown repentance and reform in conjunction with these Provisions.
Where convicts who bear civil compensation obligations are concurrently sentenced to fines or have their property confiscated, they shall first bear civil compensation obligations. If convicts whose assets are insufficient to bear all civil compensation obligations, fines, or confiscation of property can actively perform their civil compensation obligations, they should be considered when determining whether they have truly shown repentance and reform.
Article 12: Where criminals such as crimes abusing public office, undermining the order of financial management and financial fraud, or organizing (leading, participating, harboring, or abetting) underworld criminal organization crimes, do not actively return stolen goods, assist in the recovery of stolen money or property, or compensate for losses, they are not to be found to have truly shown repentance.
Article 13: When people's courts transfer convicts for enforcement of criminal punishments, where there are property judgments in effective judgments, they shall also transfer the materials for the actual implementation of the property judgments to the criminal punishment enforcement organs.
After the people's court enforcing a property judgment receives an official letter from the criminal punishment enforcement organ verifying the enforcement of the convict's property judgment, it shall issue relevant proof within 7 days, and where enforcement has already been concluded, the relevant legal documents shall be attached.
Where, in the course of enforcement, the people's court enforcing a property judgment discovers that a convict whose enforcement of a property judgment has not been completed has the circumstances listed in item (1), (2), or (3) of the first paragraph of article 6 of these Provisions, it shall promptly report the relevant circumstances to the criminal punishment enforcement organ.
Article 14: Where people's courts handling commutation or parole cases discover that convicts truly have the ability to perform but do not do so, they rule not to grant commutation or parole, or have the criminal punishment enforcement organ withdraw the commutation or parole recommendation in accordance with law.
After a convict has been ruled for commutation or parole, and it is discovered that he truly has the ability to perform, the people's court shall continue to enforce the property judgment;
Article 15: These Provisions take effect on May 1, 2024, and where previously issued judicial interpretations are inconsistent with these Provisions, these Provisions are controlling.
Source | Supreme People's Court