A proposed amendment to the Criminal Code, submitted to China's top
legislative body Wednesday, legislatively defines gang crimes and
eliminates civil servants as the obligatory factor when deciding
whether to crackdown on such crimes.
A
gang is a stable criminal organization with specific leaders,
relatively stable backbone members and considerable membership,
according to the draft amendment.
Such organized crime groups are financially sound, due to their
illegal activities.
The gangs have illegal dominance or major influence over a certain
industry or region that has seriously hampered social and economic
order. That makes it easier for the groups to bully the public.
These definitions are included in a judicial definition of gang
crime drafted by the Supreme People's Court two years ago.
The judicial explanation says gang crime is different from other
organized crime because it forces civil servants to join by bribing
or threatening them.
But the inclusion of the term "civil servants" in the definition of
gang crime sparked controversy in judicial circles, prompting a
legislative definition to be drafted now.
"Generally it is difficult for an illegal organization to form
illegal dominance or major influence in a certain industry or
region without the tolerance or permission of some civil
servants,'' said Hu Kangsheng, vice-director of the Legislative
Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress (NPC).
However, he said it is incorrect to rule out the possibility that a
gang could be formed without protection from some civil
servants.
He
said such gangs regularly escape punishment because judicial
authorities cannot determine whether civil servants were involved.
Punishment for these gangs is stricter than for other organized
crimes.
Hu
made his remarks Wednesday when he delivered a report on this
proposed amendment to the 27th session of the Standing Committee of
the Ninth NPC.
The draft amendment defines such a gang as having formed by
repeatedly committing organized crimes or by taking advantage of
civil servants who look the other way.
The committee will make a preliminary reading of the proposed
amendment during its five-day meeting, which opened Wednesday in
Beijing.
The proposed definition, if passed after three readings by national
legislators, will replace the judicial explanation by the Supreme
People's Court.
Only the NPC Standing Committee has the power to make legislative
explanations of current law, according to the Legislative Procedure
Law.
The lawmakers will also review another amendment to the Criminal
Code regarding the crime of misappropriating public funds.
They will hold a second round of deliberations on draft laws on the
protection of cultural relics and on the promotion of small and
medium-sized enterprises.
The draft law on the protection of cultural relics says that
private transactions of cultural relics can be permitted while the
nation enhances supervision and management of the cultural relics
market.
It
says that people can get legally maintained cultural relics through
purchases or exchanges.
(China
Daily April 25, 2002)