Punish domestic violence crimes in accordance with the law, promote family harmony and social stability

　　——The head of the First Procuratorate of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate answered reporters’ questions on "Typical Cases of Punishing Domestic Violence Crimes According to Law"

　　For a period of time, domestic violence crimes have occurred from time to time, causing widespread concern in society.

While the people express their sympathy for the victims, they also generally call on the judiciary to severely punish the perpetrators of domestic violence in accordance with the law.

On April 28, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate released a batch of typical cases of domestic violence crimes. The head of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s First Prosecutor’s Office answered questions from reporters on related issues.

Question: What are the main considerations based on the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s prosecution and punishment of typical cases of domestic violence crimes?

　　Answer: The family is the basic cell of society and an important basis for national development, national progress, and social harmony.

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that family harmony leads to social stability, family happiness leads to social harmony, and family civilization leads to social civilization.

Domestic violence crimes that occur from time to time not only infringe upon the victim's personality rights, destroy the harmonious family relationship, but also affect social stability and harmony.

Domestic violence crimes have some peculiarities because they occur within family members.

In order to strengthen and guide the procuratorial organs to properly handle cases in accordance with the law, carry out anti-domestic violence publicity and education, promote equal, harmonious, and civilized family relationships, and maintain social harmony and stability, the Supreme Procuratorate issued 6 typical cases of punishing domestic violence crimes this time.

Mainly based on the following considerations:

　　One is to better implement the "Anti-Domestic Violence Law of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Anti-Domestic Violence Law").

On March 1, 2016, the "Anti-Domestic Violence Law" was implemented, and it has been five years so far.

Promote the in-depth implementation of the "Anti-Domestic Violence Law" through sorting out, selecting and publishing typical cases.

At the same time, the procuratorial organs are guided to implement the provisions of the Civil Code on the protection of personality rights and respond to the people's legal requirements.

　　The second is to give full play to the guiding role of cases in procuratorial handling.

Interpret some legal application issues and policy grasp issues in domestic violence crime cases through case studies and provide guidance on handling cases.

Such as the determination of the circumstance of the crime of abuse "causing serious injury or death to the victim".

In the abuse case of Zhang, the victim committed suicide because of Zhang’s abuse. In the case of Hu’s abuse, the victim’s death was not caused by the abuse itself, but was a reasonable reaction to the victim’s death. The result should still be attributed to the defendant, and all belong to the "causing the victim's death" as stipulated in the second paragraph of Article 260 of the Criminal Law.

In addition, it also involves the identification of justifiable defense and excessive defense in domestic violence crimes, as well as issues such as extending the performance of prosecutors.

　　The third is to carry out educational warnings and publicity on the rule of law in typical cases.

On the one hand, it is clear that serious domestic violence crimes will be severely punished by the judiciary, and the perpetrators are warned to maintain civility and harmonious family relations. For example, Zhang XX abuse cases and Hu XX abuse cases will be dealt with strictly according to law; on the other hand, To educate and guide victims of domestic violence to protect their rights in a timely manner through legal means and enhance their awareness of self-protection. For example, in the case of intentional homicides by Wu Mo, Chen Mo, and Fu Mo, the defendant suffered from domestic violence for a long time. In order to prevent recurrence of domestic violence in the state, the intentional killing of the perpetrator in order to get rid of domestic violence may be lenient, but he still has to bear criminal responsibility. Therefore, criminal punishments ranging from three to five years were imposed on the defendant.

Question: How were these typical cases of punishment of domestic violence crimes selected and considered?

　　Answer: When selecting and compiling cases, we mainly consider several factors: First, the procuratorial investigation of facts, evidence admissibility, and the application of the law must be accurate, not because of "family", and the case must be handled with "harmony." .

The second is to be cruel or cause serious consequences for domestic violence, and for those who commit domestic violence for a long time or repeatedly due to bad habits such as alcohol abuse and gambling, and the perpetrator constitutes a crime, it must be severely punished and punished in accordance with the law.

Third, those who have suffered from domestic violence for a long time cannot tolerate domestic violence and resist, and commit acts of harming or killing the perpetrators. The spirit of lenient treatment must be embodied in accordance with the law.

Fourth, procuratorial handling cannot be limited to case handling, but can combine the characteristics of domestic violence cases, extend the case handling functions, and achieve the unity of political, legal, and social effects.

　　Based on the above-mentioned principles, we selected 6 cases from more than 90 cases reported by procuratorial organs in various regions, and solicited the opinions of the All-China Women’s Federation, some departments of the Supreme Procuratorate, some provincial-level hospitals, and experts and scholars.

These cases occurred between family members, and some occurred between husband and wife. For example, the husband abused his wife for a long time and caused the death of the wife; the wife harmed the violent husband, or the wife and children jointly harmed the perpetrator. Acts that cause the perpetrator to be injured or killed.

Others occur between children and their parents, such as children abusing the elderly and mothers abusing their children.

The crime involved the crime of torture, intentional injury and intentional homicide.

In terms of case handling, the procuratorial organs filed public prosecutions in accordance with the law in some cases, and the courts rendered guilty verdicts; in some cases, the procuratorial organs decided not to prosecute according to the facts, nature, circumstances, and degree of social harm in some cases.

On the whole, these cases have achieved good results, achieving the unification of the "three effects".

Question: From the perspective of prosecutors and case handling, what are the characteristics of this batch of typical cases of punishment of domestic violence crimes?

　　Answer: This batch of cases mainly reflects six characteristics:

　　First, the procuratorial organs perform their leading responsibilities by intervening in investigations, investigating themselves, and investigating and visiting to find out the facts and fully understand the situation.

On the basis of finding out the facts, the law shall be accurately applied in accordance with the law.

For example, in the case of Zhang Moumou’s abuse, despite the death of the victim, there is no causal relationship with Zhang Moumou’s abuse. The procuratorial organ recognizes it as the basic crime of abuse.

The case of Mao Moumou's intentional injury was deemed to be excessively defensive in accordance with the law.

　　The second is to implement the criminal policy of both leniency and strictness, and apply the leniency system in accordance with the law.

Those who commit domestic violence or abuse and cause the death of others shall be severely cracked down in accordance with the law.

Those who suffer from domestic violence for a long time and cannot tolerate domestic violence and injure or kill the perpetrator shall be dealt with with leniency in accordance with the law, such as non-prosecution of Mao XX and Yang XX in accordance with the law.

　　The third is to respect the wishes of the victims and pay attention to listening to the opinions of all parties as a reference for handling the case.

In handling domestic violence crime cases, we must pay particular attention to listening to the views of the victim. After all, the parties may still live together in the future. The selected cases reflect the respect for the views of the victim and his close relatives.

At the same time, the procuratorial organs pay attention to public hearings to listen to the opinions of all parties to ensure that the case is properly handled.

　　The fourth is to extend the case-handling functions to help repair damaged family and social relations.

Through judicial assistance, work hard to reduce “poverty due to case” and “return to poverty due to case”; coordinate with all parties to carry out assistance, education, and psychological counseling to save family relationships broken by crimes and protect minors legally Rights, to help minors grow up healthily; to conduct return visits, follow-up and understanding, to prevent the recurrence of crimes.

　　Fifth, pay attention to the interpretation of the law through the promotion of open court trials, and cooperate with the Women’s Federation and other departments to jointly carry out anti-domestic violence law popularization, and promote the masses to learn and understand the law in the form of “visible” and “heard”, and promote the masses Awareness of the rule of law, and work together to combat domestic violence.

　　Sixth, source governance is very important.

These cases exposed a common problem. The abuse and committing crimes lasted for a long time, and some were even openly violent. Vicious cases occurred because of contradictions and problems that were not resolved for a long time.

Through people's mediation, administrative (public security) intervention, unit intervention, etc., it is critical to strengthen the investigation, discovery, and mediation of conflicts, provide timely emotional counseling and legal assistance, and focus on preventing and reducing domestic violence from the source.

Question: Do the procuratorial organs have any good suggestions for anti-domestic violence work?

　　Answer: The first is to deeply understand and conscientiously implement the spiritual connotation and institutional provisions of the anti-domestic violence laws.

In the five years since the "Anti-Domestic Violence Law" was implemented, the concept that domestic violence is an illegal and criminal act has gradually been recognized and is no longer considered a "family affair" or "private affair."

The promulgation and implementation of the "Civil Code" has strengthened the protection of citizens' personal rights. The Marriage and Family Edition explicitly prohibits domestic violence, and prohibits abuse and abandonment among family members.

This is of great significance for consolidating and developing equal, harmonious and civilized marriage and family relations and protecting the legal rights and interests of women, children, and the elderly.

All law enforcement and judicial organs have truly integrated this spiritual connotation and basic concept into the entire process of handling cases by implementing relevant laws against domestic violence.

The second is to strengthen education on excellent traditional culture and publicity and education against domestic violence.

Respecting the elders and loving the young, being a good wife, being kind to a mother and being filial to a child, and being respectful to a brother and a friend, has always been an excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation.

Relevant government departments, labor unions, Communist Youth League, Women's Federation, radio, television, schools and other departments have continuously strengthened and continued to organize and carry out outstanding traditional culture and anti-domestic violence publicity and education activities within their respective responsibilities to eradicate the breeding ground of domestic violence.

The third is to focus on cultivating a good family tradition.

Every family promotes family virtues, attaches importance to the construction of family civilization, and promotes socialist core values ​​to take root in the family by establishing a good family style.

　　Anti-domestic violence work is a social system project, and it is the joint responsibility of the country, society, and every family. Only the joint efforts of all parties can prevent and reduce the occurrence of domestic violence.