In order to guide local procuratorial organs to actively standardize and apply the conditional non-prosecution system in accordance with the law, and to further enhance the effect of education and probation in saving minors involved in crimes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate has issued guiding cases for conditional non-prosecution of minors involved in crimes.
1. The main considerations in preparing and issuing Guiding Cases of Conditional Non-Prosecution
Conditional non-prosecution is a special litigation system established in the 2012 revision of the “Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China” in the chapter “Procedures for Juvenile Criminal Cases”. It is of great significance to divert cases and educate and save minors involved in crimes to the maximum extent.
Local procuratorial organs actively apply in accordance with the law. Since 2013, the cumulative number of people has reached more than 46,000, and good results have been achieved.
At the same time, we also found that there are still many difficulties and problems. The main ones are: First, the application conditions for conditional non-prosecution are not clear, and the criminal procedure law "may be sentenced to less than one year imprisonment" is not accurate, and it is mechanically applied. The general sentencing rules have resulted in a higher rate of penalties under one year’s imprisonment imposed by the court after a minor’s crime-related cases are prosecuted; the second is that it is confused with related litigation procedures, and there is a direct prosecution in cases where conditional non-prosecution should apply, or it should be Cases that apply conditional non-prosecution will directly lead to non-prosecution, and even in order to increase the application rate of conditional non-prosecution, cases that can be directly non-prosecuted will be handled as conditional non-prosecution, which damages the lawful rights and interests of juvenile criminal suspects; Third, the application of conditional non-prosecution procedures is not standardized, social investigations are mere formalities, the attached conditions lack individualization and pertinence, and social support is insufficient, which makes it difficult for the investigation to assist and teach in a full, in-depth and precise manner.
In addition, some local prosecutors have misunderstandings and fail to earnestly implement the policy of "education, probation, and rescue" and the principle of "education first, punishment second" for minors involved in crimes, believing that supervision and inspection will increase the workload. The fear of trouble has arisen, leading to some conditions that should not be prosecuted but did not decide to apply.
In order to effectively solve these problems, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued the "Guidelines for Criminal Prosecution of Juveniles (for Trial Implementation)" in 2017, which specifically stipulated the applicable conditions of conditional non-prosecution, the attached conditions, and the supervision of the performance of the attached conditions. .
In 2018, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League signed the "Cooperation Framework Agreement on Building a Social Support System for Juvenile Procuratorial Work" to vigorously promote the construction of a social support system for juvenile procuratorial work. Behavior correction and social observation provide support for improving the quality and effectiveness of conditional non-prosecution work.
Many local procuratorial organs throughout the country have actively explored the system, mechanisms, methods and methods of non-prosecution work with conditions, and have innovated and summed up many useful experiences.
For this reason, we screened the conditional non-prosecution cases with accurate application of law, good case-handling effect, and strong guiding significance, and clarified the difficult problems and the case-handling rules that still exist in judicial practice, for reference and application by localities, and guide the conditional non-prosecution cases. Prosecution work is operating in a healthy manner, and the application of conditional non-prosecution is increased in accordance with the law, so as to give full play to the system value of this special litigation procedure.
2. The relevant situation of this batch of conditional non-prosecution guiding cases
In order to ensure the typicality, representativeness and guidance of the selected cases, we collected more than 160 conditional non-prosecution cases from all over the country.
After screening on a case-by-case basis, the focus is on "conditional non-prosecution and understanding of the conditions for prosecution", "differentiation of conditional non-prosecution and non-prosecution conditions", "how to do social investigation", and "find the precise help and teaching points" and set up personalized attachments “Conditions”, “Exploring the form of collaborative assistance and education in different places”, “Setting and adjustment of the test period”, “Accurately identifying and revoking the criteria for conditional non-prosecution”, etc., read the case files and other materials, and study the factual identification, legal application, The performance of duties, social effects and other factors, and the opinions of relevant ministries and commissions, legal experts and local procuratorial organs have been solicited, and 5 cases have been determined. They were reviewed and approved at the Supreme Procuratorial Committee meeting held on February 26, 2021, and will be publicly announced today.
The 5 cases in this batch are from the 3 provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Henan. They mainly have the following characteristics: First, judging from the suspected charges, they involved 6 crimes of assembling a crowd for fighting, robbery, fraud, extortion, illegal detention, and imparting criminal methods. The crimes basically cover the common multiple crimes of minors.
Second, from the perspective of the types of cases, one case was shortened due to good performance during the test period, one case was a case where the investigation and assistance were carried out in a remote place, one case was a conditional non-prosecution for suspected multiple crimes, and one case was a case of a minor at the time of the crime. In the course of the proceedings, the adult criminal suspect was subject to conditional non-prosecution. One case was that the conditional non-prosecution was revoked due to violation of relevant regulations during the trial period, and it was decided to initiate a public prosecution.
The five cases are of different types and have their own focus. They basically cover the difficult problems that may be encountered in conditional non-prosecution, and provide solutions and solutions for similar cases.
The third is from the attached conditions, some set the obligation of monthly installment compensation, some list the negative behaviors during the probation period, and some have both common conditional conditions and personalized settings for multiple people. Some have put forward weekly quantitative indicators, and some have targeted adjustments to strengthen help and education measures.
The conditions attached to the five cases are highly pertinent, instructive, and maneuverable, which laid the foundation for ensuring the effectiveness of the investigation.
Fourth, judging from the actual results, the minors involved in the 4 cases have successfully passed the supervision and inspection, and their lives have been on the right track. Some have relatively stable careers, some have been admitted to a university for a professional study, and some have a special skill. , Fully demonstrated the value of the system of conditional non-prosecution.
At the same time, for serious violations of the supervision and inspection regulations, such as the case of Tang and others gathering for a fight, the procuratorial agency will not tolerate it, promptly revoking the conditional non-prosecution decision, prosecuting in accordance with the law, and recommending that probation should not be applied, which reflects the prosecution’s treatment of the victim. Conditional non-prosecutors have a clear attitude of "tolerant and not condone, love and strict control".
In addition, many cases involved social investigations, precise assistance and education, social support system construction, family education guidance, etc., showing the procedural requirements, professional characteristics and positive effects of the procuratorial organs’ conditional non-prosecution work from different perspectives, and they have good representatives. Sexuality and guidance.
3. The guiding significance of this batch of conditional non-prosecution guiding cases
First, it is helpful to guide all localities to accurately grasp the applicable conditions of conditional non-prosecution.
For example, it is clarified that "may be sentenced to a sentence of up to one year imprisonment", which refers to the penalties that the court may impose on criminal suspects who are handed over to trial.
In the case of Hu’s robbery we released, the statutory penalty for robbery is more than three years imprisonment. However, according to various sentencing scenarios, after adjusting the benchmark sentence, it is estimated that Hu may be sentenced to ten months to one year’s imprisonment. Therefore, the appendix is applied. The condition is not to prosecute.
At the same time, if you are suspected of multiple crimes, as long as the overall case facts, social investigations, and post-criminal performance are integrated, and the combined sentence may be less than one year in prison, the same applies to the conditional non-prosecution in accordance with the law.
Such as the published cases of fraud by Li, teaching criminal methods, and fraud by Niu and others.
In the context of the widespread application of the leniency system for plea guilty and punishment, publishing these cases can guide local procuratorial organs to calculate clear and specific sentencing according to the actual situation of the case, avoid mechanically applying general sentencing rules, and more actively apply conditional non-prosecution. Reduce unnecessary criminal investigations of minors involved in crimes and help them return to society smoothly.
The second is to help guide localities to accurately set the conditions attached to them in accordance with the law.
In handling a conditional non-prosecution case, the attached condition is very important.
In response to the general problems of large scale, inaccuracy and even uniformity in the conditions attached in practice, 5 cases based on social investigations centered on the cognitive bias, behavior bias, bad interpersonal relationship and emotional management of the minors involved in the crime. Psychological trauma and other factors that lead to crimes, combined with the reasons for the crime and the specific needs of returning to society, set up targeted incidental conditions and formulated reasonable help and education plans, so that it varies from person to person and "prescribes the right medicine" to ensure that the conditions are attached. The realization of the education and correction function of the non-prosecution system.
These cases are published to guide local areas to identify the "correction points" and "probation points" for minors involved in crimes, through qualitative and quantitative methods, to set specific, clear, operable, and evaluable supervision and management conditions and to investigate and teach Measures provide a reference.
The third is to help guide localities to clarify the boundaries of relevant litigation procedures.
In response to some cases in practice that should be subject to conditional non-prosecution, in order to avoid complicated supervision and inspection work, some places filed public prosecutions or directly dealt with non-prosecution issues, by publishing Hu XX robbery, Li XX defrauding, teaching criminal methods, In the fraud case of Niu and others, it is further clarified that conditional non-prosecution should be applied in preference to those who can either not prosecute conditionally.
This is of positive significance for guiding local governments to reduce mixed use of procedures and to regulate and apply the conditional non-prosecution system in accordance with the law.
Fourth, it is conducive to cohesion in the work of conditional non-prosecution.
The four guiding cases finally made the decision not to prosecute and achieved relatively good results. An important factor is the active participation and strong support of professional social forces and all sectors of society.
For example, the formation of assistance and education groups including judicial social workers, family education experts, psychological counselors and their guardians, holding public (not public) hearings, participating in public welfare labor, playing the role of duty lawyers, and so on.
This is not only an important guarantee for improving the effectiveness of conditional non-prosecution work, but also demonstrates the responsibility of the whole society to protect minors.
It is of great significance to further enhance the effect of education and rescue of minors involved in crimes.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that contemporary Chinese children are not only the experiencers and witnesses of achieving the first centenary goal, but also the new force in achieving the second centenary goal and building a modern socialist country.
To protect the healthy growth of minors, procuratorial organs have no shirk.
We will take the opportunity of implementing the newly revised Juvenile Protection Law and the Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency to further strengthen and improve the procuratorial work of juveniles, and strive to better implement the good system of conditional non-prosecution. Meet the people's expectations for a better and higher level of healthy growth of minors, and make new and greater contributions to the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities!