Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
CRIMINAL LAW OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
(Adopted at the Second Session of the Fifth National People's
Congress on July 1, 1979, promulgated by Order No.5 of the
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
on July 6, 1979, and effective as of January 1,1980)
CONTENTS
PART ONE GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER I THE GUIDING IDEOLOGY, TASKS AND SCOPE OF APPLICATION OF
CRIMINAL LAW
CHAPTER II CRIMES
SECTION 1 CRIMES AND CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
SECTION 2 PREPARATION FOR A CRIME, CRIMINAL ATTEMPT AND
DISCONTINUATION OF A CRIME
SECTION 3 JOINT CRIMES
CHAPTER III PUNISHMENTS
SECTION 1 TYPES OF PUNISHMENTS
SECTION 2 PUBLIC SURVEILLANCE
SECTION 3 CRIMINAL DETENTION
SECTION 4 FIXED-TERM IMPRISONMENT AND LIFE IMPRISONMENT
SECTION 5 THE DEATH PENALTY
SECTION 6 FINES
SECTION 7 DEPRIVATION OF POLITICAL RIGHTS
SECTION 8 CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY
CHAPTER IV THE CONCRETE APPLICATION OF PUNISHMENTS
SECTION 1 SENTENCING
SECTION 2 RECIDIVISTS
SECTION 3 VOLUNTARY SURRENDER
SECTION 4 COMBINED PUNISHMENT FOR SEVERAL CRIMES
SECTION 5 SUSPENSION OF SENTENCE
SECTION 6 COMMUTATION OF PUNISHMENT
SECTION 7 PAROLE
SECTION 8 LIMITATION
CHAPTER V OTHER PROVISIONS
PART TWO SPECIFIC PROVISIONS
CHAPTER I CRIMES OF COUNTERREVOLUTION
CHAPTER II CRIMES OF ENDANGERING PUBLIC SECURITY
CHAPTER III CRIMES OF UNDERMINING THE SOCIALIST ECONOMIC ORDER
CHAPTER IV CRIMES OF INFRINGING UPON THE RIGHTS OF THE PERSON
AND THE DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS OF CITIZENS
CHAPTER V CRIMES OF PROPERTY VIOLATION
CHAPTER VI CRIMES OF OBSTRUCTING THE ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC ORDER
CHAPTER VII CRIMES OF DISRUPTING MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY
CHAPTER VIII CRIMES OF DERELICTION OF DUTY
PART ONE GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER I THE GUIDING IDEOLOGY, TASKS AND SCOPE OF APPLICATION
OF THE CRIMINAL LAW
Article 1. The Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China,
which takes Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought as its guide and the
Constitution as its basis, is formulated in accordance with the
policy of combining punishment with leniency and in the light of the
actual circumstances and concrete experiences of the people of all
China's nationalities in carrying out the people's democratic
dictatorship, led by the proletariat and based on the
worker-peasant alliance, that is, the dictatorship of the
proletariat, and in conducting the socialist revolution and
socialist construction.
Article 2. The tasks of the Criminal Law of the People's
Republic of China are to use criminal punishments to
fight against all counterrevolutionary and other criminal acts in
order to defend the system of the dictatorship of the proletariat; to
protect socialist property owned by the whole people and socialist
property collectively owned by the working people; to protect the
citizens' privately owned lawful property; to protect the citizens,
rights of the person and their democratic and other rights; to
maintain public order and order in production, education, scientific
research and other work and in the life of the masses; and to
safeguard the smooth progress of the cause of the socialist
revolution and socialist construction.
Article 3. This Law is applicable to anyone who commits a crime
within the territory of the People's Republic of China, unless the
case is covered by special legal provisions.
This Law is also applicable to anyone who commits a crime on board
a ship or airplane of the People's Republic of China.
If the criminal act or its consequence takes place within the
territory of the People's Republic of China, the crime shall be
deemed to have been committed within the territory of the People's
Republic of China.
Article 4. This Law is applicable to the citizens of the
People's Republic of China who commit any of the following
crimes outside the territory of the People's Republic of China:
(1) counterrevolution;
(2) counterfeiting national currency (Article 122) and
counterfeiting valuable securities (Article 123);
(3) embezzlement (Article 155), accepting bribes (Article
185) and divulging state secrets (Article 186); and
(4) posing as a state functionary to practise fraud (Article
166) and forging official documents, certificates and seals (Article
167).
Article 5. This Law is also applicable to any citizen of the
People's Republic of China who commits a crime outside the territory
of the People's Republic of China that is not specified in the
preceding Article, if for that crime this Law prescribes a
minimum punishment of fixed-term imprisonment of not less than
three years; however, this does not apply to a crime that is not
punishable according to the law of the place where it was committed.
Article 6. This Law may be applicable to any foreigner who
commits a crime outside the territory of the People's Republic of
China, against the state of the People's Republic of China or
against its citizens, if for that crime this Law prescribes a
minimum punishment of fixed-term imprisonment of not less than
three years; however, this does not apply to a crime that is not
punishable according to the law of the place where it was committed.
Article 7. If any person commits a crime outside the territory
of the People's Republic of China for which according to this Law
he would bear criminal responsibility, he may still be dealt with
according to this Law, even if he has already been tried in a foreign
country. However, if he has already received criminal punishment in
the foreign country, he may be exempted from punishment or given a
mitigated punishment.
Article 8. The problem of the criminal responsibility of
foreigners who enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities shall
be resolved through diplomatic channels.
Article 9. This Law shall enter into force on January 1, 1980.
If an act committed after the founding of the People's Republic
of China and before the entry into force of this law was not deemed
a crime under the laws, decrees and policies in force at the time,
those laws, decrees and policies shall apply. If the act was deemed a
crime under the laws, decrees and policies in force at that time and
is subject to prosecution under the provisions of SECTION 8, CHAPTER
IV of the General Provisions of this Law, criminal responsibility
shall be investigated according to those laws, decrees and
policies. However, if this Law does not deem it a crime or imposes
a lighter punishment, this Law shall apply.
CHAPTER II CRIMES
SECTION 1 CRIMES AND CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
Article 10. A crime refers to an act that endangers the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state; endangers
the system of the dictatorship of the proletariat; undermines
the socialist revolution and socialist construction; disrupts public
order; violates property owned by the whole people or collectively
owned by the working people; violates the citizens' privately owned
lawful property or infringes upon the citizens' rights of the person
and their democratic and other rights; and any other act that
endangers society and is punishable according to law. However, an act
that is clearly of minor importance and little harm shall not be
considered a crime.
Article 11. An intentional crime refers to a crime
committed by a person who clearly knows that his act will
produce socially dangerous consequences but who wishes or allows such
consequences to occur.
Criminal responsibility shall be borne for intentional crimes.
Article 12. A negligent crime refers to a crime committed by a
person who should have foreseen that his act would possibly
produce socially dangerous consequences but who fails to do so through
negligence or, having foreseen the consequences, readily believes
that they can be avoided, the result being that these consequences do
occur.
Criminal responsibility shall be borne for negligent crimes only
when the law so provides.
Article 13. If an act in fact results in harmful consequences
due to unavoidable or unforeseeable causes rather than intent or
negligence, it shall not be deemed a crime.
Article 14. Any person who has reached the age of 16 and who
commits a crime shall bear criminal responsibility.
Any person who has reached the age of 14 but not the age of 16
and who commits homicide, inflicting serious bodily injury,
robbery, arson, habitual theft or any other crime seriously
undermining social order shall bear criminal responsibility.
Any person who has reached the age of 14 but not the age of 18
and who commits a crime shall be given a lighter or mitigated
punishment.
If a person is not punished because he has not reached the age of
16, the head of his family or his guardian shall be ordered to
discipline and educate him. When necessary, he may also be taken in
by the government for re-education.
Article 15. If a mental patient causes dangerous consequences at
a time when he is unable to recognize or control his own conduct,
he shall not bear criminal responsibility, but his family members or
guardian shall be ordered to keep him under strict surveillance and
arrange for his medical treatment.
Any person whose mental illness is of an intermittent nature
shall bear criminal responsibility if he commits a crime when he is in
a normal mental state.
Any intoxicated person who commits a crime shall bear
criminal responsibility.
Article 16. Any deaf-mute or blind person who commits a crime
may be given a lighter or mitigated punishment or be exempted from
punishment.
Article 17. Criminal responsibility shall not be borne for an
act that a person undertakes in justifiable defence to avert an
immediate and unlawful infringement of the public interest or of
his own or another person's rights of the person or other rights.
Criminal responsibility shall be borne if justifiable defence
exceeds the limits of necessity and causes undue harm; however,
consideration shall be given to a mitigated punishment or exemption
from punishment.
Article 18. Criminal responsibility shall not be borne for an
act that a person is compelled to commit in an emergency to
avert an immediate danger to the public interest or to his own or
another person's rights of the person or other rights.
Criminal responsibility shall be borne if an act committed in an
emergency to avert danger exceeds the limits of necessity and
causes undue harm; however, consideration shall be given to a
mitigated punishment or exemption from punishment.
The provisions of the first paragraph of this Article with
respect to averting danger to oneself shall not apply to a person who
is charged with specific responsibility in his post or profession.
SECTION 2 PREPARATION FOR A CRIME, CRIMINAL ATTEMPT AND
DISCONTINUATION OF A CRIME
Article 19. Preparation for a crime refers to the preparation
of the instruments or the creation of the conditions for a crime.
An offender who prepares for a crime may, in comparison with
one who completed the crime, be given a lighter or mitigated
punishment or be exempted from punishment.
Article 20. A criminal attempt refers to a case where an
offender has already begun to commit a crime but is prevented from
completing it for reasons independent of his will.
An offender who attempts to commit a crime may, in comparison with
one who completed the crime, be given a lighter or mitigated punishment.
Article 21. Discontinuation of a crime refers to cases where,
in the process of committing a crime, the offender voluntarily
discontinues the crime or voluntarily and effectively prevents the
consequences of the crime from occurring.
An offender who discontinues a crime shall be exempted from
punishment or be given a mitigated punishment.
SECTION 3 JOINT CRIMES
Article 22. A joint crime refers to an intentional crime
committed by two or more persons jointly.
A negligent crime committed by two or more persons jointly shall
not be punished as a joint crime; those who should bear criminal
responsibility shall be individually punished according to the crimes
they have committed.
Article 23. A principal criminal refers to any person who
organizes and leads a criminal group in carrying out criminal
activities or plays a principal role in a joint crime.
A principal criminal shall be given a heavier punishment unless
otherwise stipulated in the Specific Provisions of this Law.
Article 24. An accomplice refers to any person who plays a
secondary or auxiliary role in a joint crime.
An accomplice shall, in comparison with a principal criminal, be
given a lighter or mitigated punishment or be exempted from punishment.
Article 25. A person who is compelled or induced to
participate in a crime shall, according to the circumstances of his
crime and in comparison with an accomplice, be given a mitigated
punishment or be exempted from punishment.
Article 26. A person who instigates others to commit a crime
shall be punished according to the role he has played in the joint
crime. Anyone who instigates a person under the age of 18 to commit a
crime shall be given a heavier punishment.
If the instigated person has not committed the instigated
crime, the instigator may be given a lighter or mitigated punishment.
CHAPTER III PUNISHMENTS
SECTION 1 TYPES OF PUNISHMENTS
Article 27. Punishments are divided into principal
punishments and supplementary punishments.
Article 28. The principal punishments are as follows:
(1) Public surveillance;
(2) Criminal detention;
(3) Fixed-term imprisonment;
(4) Life imprisonment; and
(5) The death penalty.
Article 29. The supplementary punishments are as follows:
(1) Fines;
(2) Deprivation of political rights; and
(3) Confiscation of property.
Supplementary punishments may be imposed independently.
Article 30. Deportation may be imposed independently or
supplementarily to a foreigner who commits a crime.
Article 31. If a victim has suffered economic losses as a
result of a crime, the criminal shall, in addition to receiving a
criminal sanction according to law, be sentenced to make compensation
for the economic losses in the light of the circumstances.
Article 32. If the circumstances of a person's crime are minor
and do not require punishment, he may be exempted from criminal
sanctions; however, he may, according to the different
circumstances of each case, be reprimanded or ordered to make a
statement of repentance, offer an apology, pay compensation for the
losses or be subject to administrative sanctions by the competent
department.
SECTION 2 PUBLIC SURVEILLANCE
Article 33. The term of public surveillance shall not be
less than three months and not more than two years.
Public surveillance shall be decided by the judgment of a people's
court and executed by a public security organ.
Article 34. A criminal who is sentenced to public
surveillance must observe the following rules during the term in
which his sentence is being executed:
(1) observe laws and decrees, submit to supervision by the
masses and actively participate in collective productive labour or work;
(2) report regularly on his own activities to the organ
executing the public surveillance; and
(3) report and obtain approval from the organ executing the
public surveillance for any change in residence or departure from the
area.
Criminals sentenced to public surveillance shall, while engaged in
labour, receive equal pay for equal work.
Article 35. Upon the expiration of a term of public
surveillance, the executing organ shall immediately announce the
termination of public surveillance to the criminal sentenced to
public surveillance and to the masses concerned.
Article 36.
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