After stumbling for a year and a half, the "drunken driving conviction" finally came to fruition. 20 1 1 On February 25th, the Criminal Law Amendment (VIII) of People's Republic of China (PRC) was passed by a high vote at the 19th meeting in the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), and came into effect on May 25th, 201/. Article 22 of the amendment stipulates that those who drive a motor vehicle on the road to chase after a race, if the circumstances are bad, or those who drive a motor vehicle drunk on the road, shall be sentenced to criminal detention and fined. Whoever commits the acts mentioned in the preceding paragraph and constitutes other crimes shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the provisions of heavier punishment.

The current criminal law of our country stipulates the crime of causing traffic accidents, but criminal punishment must be given only if the perpetrator causes serious negligence. The conviction of "dangerous driving" changed the way of "punishment after accident". Regardless of the consequences, as long as there are dangerous driving behaviors, they will be subject to criminal punishment.

Conducive to cracking down on drunk driving

Drunk driving and racing in urban areas have long been two "killers" that the public hates. In recent years, cases of heavy casualties caused by drunk driving and racing have been pounding the public's nerves. The Sun Weiming case in 2008, the Li Jingquan case in 2009 and the "70 yards" incident in Hangzhou are still fresh in people's minds. How to punish these dangerous driving behaviors from the legislative level has become the best method in the eyes of the judiciary and the public.

In fact, "the crime of drunk driving" has been under great pressure. During the deliberation stage, I heard from time to time that "the crime of drunk driving is too serious and unfair to civil servants", on the grounds that once civil servants are found drunk driving, they will face the punishment of dismissal from public office. Some people question the crime of drunk driving again because the current criminal law of our country has stipulated the crime of causing traffic accidents. In this regard, Guangzhou Daily commented that although China's current criminal law stipulates the crime of causing traffic accidents, criminal punishment is only given if the perpetrator causes serious negligence. Therefore, when punishing this dangerous driving behavior in practice, the crime of endangering public safety is often borrowed. For example, the Opinions on the Application of Laws on Drunk Driving Crimes formulated by the Supreme Law at the end of 2009 pointed out that if drunk driving causes heavy casualties, it should be convicted of endangering public safety according to law. The lack of legislation makes it difficult for the law to play a better warning and crime prevention role in drunk driving, so we have to stay in the case of "combined punishment". The conviction of "dangerous driving" changed the way of "punishment after accident". Regardless of the consequences, as long as there are dangerous driving behaviors, they will be punished, which highlights the respect for life by the law and is more conducive to cracking down on drunk driving and reducing drunk driving.

Throughout the world, in view of social problems such as drunk driving and racing, the common practice is to prevent problems through legislation. For example, in the United States, once it is recognized as "drunk driving", it will be detained and imprisoned, and the severe case can be sentenced to 1 year in prison; In Singapore, recidivists who drink and drive may even face up to 10 years in prison. ...

Most car owners support "guilty of drunk driving"

According to Chengdu Business Daily, in a survey of 50 citizens in Chengdu, * * * 4 1 citizens clearly expressed their support for the new provisions of the criminal law revision, hoping to crack down on drunk driving by more severe means; Six citizens explicitly object that the use of criminal punishment is too severe and unfair to those who make mistakes accidentally; Three others said it was understandable, but not optimistic. As for the implementation effect, most people have reservations.

Mr. Zhu is a university researcher. He has 8 years of driving experience and has no drinking habit. He believes that the punishment for drunk driving must come up with a truly deterrent punishment method and must be severely cracked down. Mr. Liu is a civil servant and has six years of driving experience. He also believes that "drunk driving can't help but make drivers and pedestrians feel unsafe." There are also some citizens who object to this. Mr. Ren is an architectural designer with eight years' driving experience and no drinking habit. He doesn't think it will be effective to add only one charge. If drunk driving becomes a criminal punishment, it will be decided by the court, and the cost of law enforcement is high. Miss Li, a teacher, thinks it is too much to treat drunk drivers as criminals. If there are no consequences, the court will sentence him to death, which is not good for his later life.

The reporter randomly interviewed some car owners in Foshan and found that the support rate for "drunk driving into prison" was as high as 90%, except that some interviewed civil servants thought that the sentence was too heavy and directly affected the future. A survey of a large portal website also shows that the support rate of "drunk driving into prison" is as high as 88.3%, and only 8.2% are against it.

Many car owners admit that the medical report is not ideal and it is not suitable for drinking. "Convinced" can be used as a good shield for drinking in the future. "Wine culture is popular again, and you can't force others to commit crimes." Many "not greedy" car owners cheered for this.

Looking forward to more detailed details.

When interpreting the new regulations, Xu Yufa, a senior lawyer in Foshan, said that compared with before, drunk driving was only fined 500-2,000 yuan for detaining or temporarily withholding the driver's license for 3-6 months in accordance with the Road Traffic Safety Law, and the criminal law amendment significantly increased the illegal cost of drunk driving. However, Xu Yufa said that there are still many controversies about the punishment of drag racing in the criminal law amendment. What kind of situation belongs to "car chasing" and what kind of situation belongs to "bad". I also look forward to more details, such as quantifying the violation of speed and private space. Otherwise, it will be difficult to define the criminal detention of racing.

Wei Dong, a professor of criminal law at Sichuan University, said that once drunk driving is convicted, it involves the issue of execution, and execution involves the issue of judgment. How to define the standard of judgment? This involves many specific problems, which are not practical in practice and many programs need to be improved. Hu Dongfei, an associate professor at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics Law School, also pointed out that in practice, there are too many drunk drivers and the evidence is not fixed, so there is no way to deal with it. Conviction of drunk driving may deter drivers and reduce traffic accidents, which is just wishful thinking. In addition, once drunk driving produces harmful results, is the crime of traffic accident or drunk driving applicable? This will bring great trouble to the judicial treatment. In addition, it is also a question whether people who have been drunk driving for a long time constitute recidivists.

At present, drunk driving, racing and malicious arrears are more and more likely to occur, and their social harm is gradually expanding. In this context, it is not only the need of the times, but also the proper meaning of the law to protect people's livelihood.

The National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC)'s Criminal Law Amendment (VIII), which was passed by vote on 25th, criminalizes drunk driving, racing, refusing to pay labor remuneration and other behaviors that seriously endanger the interests of the masses, and stipulates that those who drive a motor vehicle in pursuit of racing on the road, if the circumstances are bad, or those who drive a motor vehicle drunk on the road, shall be sentenced to criminal detention and fined. At the same time, the long-awaited "malicious arrears of wages" was also convicted.

After three deliberations, the eighth draft of the criminal law amendment is controversial. Finally, 13 economic non-violent crime was abolished by voting, and new charges such as refusing to pay workers' remuneration, drunk driving and racing were added. On the one hand, it embodies the legal principle of combining leniency with severity, on the other hand, it also embodies the characteristics of humanization and modernization of law.

There is no doubt that there is a problem of "the death penalty is too heavy and the life imprisonment is too light" in the actual implementation of China's criminal law. Therefore, the abolition of 13 in the Criminal Law Amendment (VIII) is also in line with the general trend of gradually reducing the death penalty. However, reducing the death penalty does not mean lowering the dignity and threshold of the law. The vitality of law lies in that it can be adjusted at any time according to the needs of social development and the actual situation. At present, drunk driving, racing and malicious arrears are more and more likely to occur, and their social harm is gradually expanding. The indifference of the law is actually an indirect connivance. In this context, it is not only the need of the times, but also the proper meaning of protecting people's livelihood by law to formally criminalize dangerous driving behaviors such as drunk driving, racing, refusing to pay remuneration and maliciously defaulting on wages.

Drunk driving and racing in urban areas have long been the two "road killers" hated by the public. Cases of heavy casualties caused by drunk driving and drag racing have occurred frequently in recent years. The Sun Weiming case in 2008, the Li Jingquan case in 2009 and the "70 yards" incident in Hangzhou are still fresh in people's minds. How to punish these dangerous driving behaviors, the judiciary and the public have been calling for a solution from the legislative level. Throughout the world, there are also widespread social problems such as drunk driving and racing. The common practice is to prevent problems through legislation. For example, in the United States, once it is recognized as "drunk driving", it will be detained and imprisoned, and the severe case can be sentenced to 1 year in prison; In Singapore, recidivists who drink and drive may even face up to 10 years in prison. ...

Although there is a crime of causing traffic accidents in China's current criminal law, criminal punishment is only given if the perpetrator causes serious negligence. Therefore, when punishing this dangerous driving behavior, it is often necessary to "borrow" the crime of endangering public safety. For example, the Opinions on the Application of Laws on Drunk Driving Crimes formulated by the Supreme Law at the end of 2009 pointed out that if drunk driving causes heavy casualties, it should be convicted of endangering public safety according to law. The lack of legislation makes it difficult for the law to play a better warning and crime prevention role for drunk driving, so we have to stay in the case of "combined punishment". This conviction of "dangerous driving" has changed the way of "punishment after accident". Regardless of the consequences, as long as there are dangerous driving behaviors, they will be punished, which highlights the respect for life by the law and is more conducive to cracking down on drunk driving and reducing drunk driving.

In fact, the conviction of drunk driving was also passed under considerable pressure. During the deliberation stage, I heard from time to time that "the crime of drunk driving is too serious and unfair to civil servants", on the grounds that once civil servants are found drunk driving, they will face the punishment of dismissal from public office. Not to mention that everyone is equal before the law, civil servants do not enjoy the privilege of extra-legal kindness, and questioning the crime of drunk driving on the pretext of unfair dismissal from public office is, in a sense, obstructing the law from keeping pace with the times. This kind of legal logic is the most terrible. From this perspective, the crime of drunk driving reflects not only the progress of law.

The laws of any era cannot be divorced from reality. Adjusting laws in time according to the new social situation is a civilized embodiment of the legal era. It is expected that the following judicial interpretation will provide better operating rules for the newly added crimes of dangerous driving and malicious unpaid wages.