A woman in Kunming, Yunnan Province, was taking a walk when she fell in love with the succulents grown by others, so she stole a total of 16 pots for three consecutive days...... The total value of the items involved in the case is 98 yuan, but his behavior has met the requirements of the Criminal Law for "multiple thefts", how to determine whether the act is a crime or an administrative violation? On May 14, the Supreme People's Procuratorate released the 52nd batch of Guiding Cases, which mentioned this "minor case".
The woman was detained for stealing meat three times
The procuratorate made a decision not to approve the arrest
From July 4 to 6, 2021, when Zhu was walking near a unit in Wuhua District, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, he took home the sixteen pots of succulents that Xie had planted at the door of the unit three times. On July 7, Xie called the police after discovering that the succulents he planted had been stolen. That night, when Zhu went for a walk at the scene of the crime to steal succulents again, he was discovered by security guards and asked to register his identity information, and Zhu left the scene after providing false information. On July 15, the police locked on Zhu through video surveillance and went to look for him near his residence. After the neighbor informed Zhu of the situation, Zhu went downstairs to truthfully explain to the police the fact that he had stolen the succulents, and returned the stolen items to Xie. After identification, the succulents stolen by Zhu were worth a total of 98 yuan.
On the same day, the Wuhua Branch of the Kunming Municipal Public Security Bureau filed a case for investigation into Zhu's suspected theft case, and criminally detained him the next day. On July 26, the Wuhua Branch submitted a request to the Wuhua District Procuratorate for approval of arrest on suspicion of theft.
The court found that Zhu had committed three thefts in different time periods, which should be found to be multiple thefts. However, the value of the object of theft was very small, only 98 yuan, and after the incident, he took the initiative to return the stolen property, recovering the victim's economic losses, and the circumstances were obviously slight and the harm was not great, and according to the provisions of the Criminal Law, it was not considered a crime. On August 2, 2021, the Wuhua District Procuratorate made a decision not to approve the arrest, and served a statement of reasons for not approving the arrest to the public security organs, explaining the reasons and basis to the public security organs in person.
The police filed a reconsideration review
The procuratorate upheld the original decision not to approve the arrest
The Wuhua Branch of the Kunming Municipal Public Security Bureau held that Zhu's repeated thefts met the provisions of the Criminal Law on the crime of theft, and that the decision not to approve the arrest should not be made on the grounds that the circumstances were obviously minor and the harm was not great, and that such a handling would easily blur the boundaries between violations and crimes, making it difficult to enforce in practice, so it submitted a reconsideration to the procuratorate.
The Wuhua District Procuratorate will appoint a procurator to handle it separately. The procurator reviewed the case file, interrogated Zhu, and conducted a comprehensive review of the facts of the case, the evidence, the reasons for not approving the arrest, and the reasons for reconsideration. After review, it was found that Zhu X committed three acts of theft, which met the requirements of multiple thefts as provided for in the specific provisions of the Criminal Law, but did not meet the requirements for judging guilt and innocence in the General Provisions of the Criminal Law. After comprehensive consideration, Zhu's circumstances were obviously minor and the harm was not great, and it was not considered a crime.
On August 10, 2021, the Wuhua District Procuratorate decided to uphold the original decision not to approve the arrest after research by the procuratorial committee, and explained to the public security organs the reasons and basis for the procuratorate's reconsideration decision.
The next day, the Wuhua Branch of the Kunming Municipal Public Security Bureau submitted to the Kunming Municipal Procuratorate for review. The public security organs believe that Zhu's multiple acts of small theft can be assessed as a slight circumstance, but it does not fall under the category of "the circumstances are obviously slight and the harm is not great". Downgrading the criminal act of "multiple thefts" to an administrative offense will make it difficult for the public security organs to accurately define administrative violations and criminal acts when handling multiple theft cases.
During the review stage, the prosecutor of the Kunming Municipal Procuratorate comprehensively read the case file, verified the evidence, and listened to the opinions of the public security organs, the lower-level procuratorate, and Zhu. After review, it was found that Zhu's behavior was occasional greed for small profits, and the value of the stolen succulents was only 98 yuan, and Zhu took the initiative to return the stolen succulents after the incident, which did not cause economic losses to the victims. Zhu's conduct is obviously minor and does not cause much harm, and is not considered a crime, and his conduct may be punished for public security. The Kunming Municipal Procuratorate decided to uphold the decision not to approve the arrest reconsideration, and on August 25, 2021, it served a document on the public security organ and explained the law and reasoning in person.
On September 6, 2021, the Wuhua Branch of the Kunming Municipal Public Security Bureau withdrew the criminal case and imposed a penalty of 15 days of administrative detention on Zhu, because Zhu had previously been criminally detained, and the date of criminal detention was deducted from the date of administrative detention.
Interpretation: "Multiple thefts"
It cannot be punished as a crime invariably
Review and determination of a crime shall lawfully grasp the essential characteristics of whether it is a serious harm to society. To understand and grasp the provisions of "multiple thefts", we should adhere to the substantive interpretation, and we should not simply assume that as long as "multiple thefts" are punished, they will be punished as crimes.
On the one hand, it should be followed that "multiple thefts" and "large amounts, burglary, theft with a murder weapon, and pickpocketing" are quite harmful; On the other hand, it is necessary to understand the sub-provisions in conjunction with the general provisions, and further examine the degree of social harmfulness of their acts and whether they should be punished in accordance with the provisions of Article 13 of the Criminal Law.
Where there are "multiple thefts", whether it is found to be a crime of theft may be comprehensively judged in consideration of circumstances such as the perpetrator's motive, purpose, time, place, means, target, and amount of theft. If there are circumstances such as multiple thefts by destructive means, theft as a business, criminal punishment or administrative punishment for theft and multiple thefts, and multiple thefts of the property of the disabled or the elderly, shall be prosecuted in accordance with law as the crime of theft. Where although there have been multiple thefts, the perpetrator is greedy for small profits, taking sheep by the hand, stealing a small amount of property and the value is small, it shall be found that the circumstances are obviously slight and the harm is not great, and it is not considered a crime.
Links to legal provisions
Article 13 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China: "All acts that endanger national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security, split the country, subvert the power of the people's democratic dictatorship and overthrow the socialist system, undermine social and economic order, infringe upon state-owned property or property collectively owned by the working masses, infringe upon property owned by private citizens, infringe upon citizens' personal, democratic and other rights, and other acts that endanger society, and shall be punished by criminal punishment in accordance with law, shall be criminalized." However, where the circumstances are obviously minor and the harm is not great, it is not considered a crime. ”
Article 264 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China: "Whoever steals public or private property, where the amount is relatively large, or who commits multiple thefts, burglaries, thefts with weapons, or pickpocketing, is to be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, short-term detention or controlled release, and/or a fine; where the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, a sentence of between 3 and 10 years imprisonment and a concurrent fine is to be given; where the amount is especially huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, a sentence of 10 or more years imprisonment or indefinite imprisonment is to be given, and a concurrent fine or confiscation of property. ”
[Source: Procuratorate Daily Justice Network (ID: JCRB_ZYW) Author: Xu Qingzi Gao Wenwen]