NCJ Number
135665
Date Published
1989
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Criminal justice in China has a history of 40 years, but it was not until the end of the 1970's that the prerequisites for legislating a comprehensive and systematic criminal code were provided.
Abstract
The Criminal Code, approved in July 1979, is based on concepts of Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong. Its goal is to use criminal punishment against counterrevolutionary and other criminal acts in order to safeguard the public and socialism. The Criminal Code is based on four key principles: combining punishment and leniency, depending on the circumstances of different crimes and the characteristics of different criminals; defining what acts constitute an offense and what penalties should be imposed on an offender as clearly as possible; imposing punishment only on those responsible for the crime; and combining punishment and education. The Criminal Code follows the doctrine of territorialism to include both nationals and foreigners. Different criminal responsibilities are stipulated for specific crimes, attempted crimes, and preparations for crime. The Criminal Code identifies five principal punishments (control, detention, fixed term imprisonment, life imprisonment, and the death penalty) and three supplementary punishments (fines, deprivation of political rights, and confiscation of property). The Criminal Code has 89 articles defining over 100 counts related to counterrevolution, endangering public security, undermining the socialist economic order, infringing on individual and democratic rights, property violations, disrupting the order of social administration, disrupting marriage and the family, and derelection of duty. A policy of reform through labor is implemented for prisoners in custody. New developments in Chinese criminal provisions and law are discussed.