Gang penalties: stick to the law
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E-mail China Daily, October 18, 2010
China is trying to standardize court procedure across the country in its crackdown on gangs and mafia-style crimes to see that trials and judgments are fair, in what experts say is a response to some inaccurate or false charges in the past.
Courts are being told to strictly follow the laws in such cases in deciding on the severity of each, according to a ruling from China's top court, which came over the weekend.
The Supreme People's Court also posted a statement on its website. The ruling states that, "arbitrary higher or lower judgments against suspects in such cases are not allowed."
"This new statement is certainly a sign of progress," said Sun Zhongwei, a Beijing lawyer. "Although I cannot say for certain that false charges are common in such cases, I have seen it happen now and then."
Sun explained that gang-related crimes are often very complicated and different courts in different parts of the country have a different understanding of the law governing them.
In addition, judges may make an error in ruling on the degree of the crime if corruption is involved, or if they are told to do so by higher authorities, Sun said.
"The top court needs to make a unified ruling," he concluded.
The ruling also calls for every high people's court, or provincial-level court, to establish a special court for trying mafia-style crimes, with a judge experienced in criminal law as its head.
The highest court pointed out that courts at various levels had been working hard handling gang-related crimes since a government campaign against them started about four years ago.
From January 2006 to June 2010, a total of 20,291 people were charged in relation to various mafia-style crimes, court figures show.
Thus far, 9,930 of these people have been charged, with 4,610 of them receiving penalties from more than five years in prison, to life sentences or the death penalty.
In January, the top court, working in conjunction with the top procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security, issued guidelines for judges, procurators and police for handling mafia-style crimes and describing how to recognize mafia-style criminals.
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