Research Of Involuntary Dangerous Crime In Risk Liability

Modern technology has brought us many benefits, and at the same time, the number of risks, either tangible or intangible, are increasing. With the increase of risk source in the society, if those related staff violate safety regulations or operation rules, the public will be at stake. This kind of danger, once becoming true, will often cause great losses. In recent years, negligent crimes in fields like environmental pollution, traffic accidents, medicine and food production, occur more often than in the past, and the typical cases all caused huge losses and had bad influence. The later legal remedies can not save lives or restore the damaged environment. Therefore, a new issue comes up in modern criminal law, that is whether actors of violating safety regulations and putting the public in stake should receive criminal penalties even before the bad consequences virtually take place. Many scholars favor prevention took beforehand rather than afterward, and negligent risky behaviors should also result in criminal penalties. As a result, the crime of negligent risks has become a hot topic.Traditional criminal law is to punish intentional crimes, instead of negligent crimes, since danger usually exists only in intentional crimes. Therefore, the legislation of negligent risky behaviors is confronted with lots of objection. Discussion mainly focuses on the necessity and rationality of the existence of crime of negligent risks, and how to deal with this kind of crimes. Most opponents put forward their arguments from the aspects of principle of trust, risk of tolerance, the restraint of criminal law, and the characteristics of negligent crimes, while supporters argue that part of the negligent risky behaviors should result in criminal penalties from the aspects of its harmful impact on society, the prevention of penalty together with the present frequently-occurring and harmfulness of negligent crimes.Since risks become an important feature of the modern society, the function and purpose of criminal law embody a new meaning, namely, prevention and control of social risks. In the risk society, the actors need to take responsibility for their risky acts. Risk liability is defined as the liability caused by creating risks disallowed by law. While inheriting reasonable elements of traditional criminal responsibility theory, risk liability also contains some innovative aspects. From the perspective of risk liability, the liability actors should take depends not only on their subjective state of mind against the legal interests, and dangerous personalities of intentional breach of duty and disregard for public safety, but also on the evaluation of their acts by the criminal law. Risk liability, a compromising theory of liability, precisely explains the meaning of criminal liability in the risky society. Regarding the danger of public safety caused by negligent risky behaviors as a kind of risk, interpreting the legal liability of negligent risky behaviors from the perspective of risk liability, and finding a new approach in addition to traditional theoretical analysis are helpful in understanding the changing of modern criminal law, the role it plays in the risky society and the value of crimes of negligent risks.The subjective state of mind of criminals of negligent risks is multilevel:actors' intentional breach of duty, being unable to foresee the harmful result, or being able to foresee it but with a fluke mind. Relevant duty is usually in express terms, and can be found in the safety regulations or operating rules; harmful result refers to the serious danger to the public safety. On the whole, actor's intentional breach of duty, which causes the serious danger to life and health of the majority, and losses of public and private property, can be accused subjectively. Although without serious virtual harm consequences, this kind of risks has the possibility of evolving into them, and once they evolve, legal remedies will become useless. Thus, it is necessary to take an active response and prevention strategies in advance so as to bring criminal law into better play in protecting legal interests and keeping order.Risks coexist with benefits. Criminalization of negligent risky behaviors is reasonable, and it can control risks and guarantee safety to a certain extent. However, measures of controlling risks themselves are a hotbed of breeding new risks. Some measures to bring safety to certain members of the society may unconsciously bring risks to another group of members. That is, the protection of a group may cause harm to another group, and risk reduction policies may bring insecurity to some members of society. If the system of criminals of negligent risks is not properly set up, wantonly wage penalty will turn up, and so do risks of violating rights and destroying freedom. Foreign criminal legislation has mentioned criminals of negligent risks, and there is a growing trend in legislation. In China, "Crime of Obstructing Prevention and Treating of Infectious Disease" and "Crime of Obstruction of Frontier Health and Quarantine" in the Criminal Law released in 1997 is crime of negligent risky behavior. In the recently released Criminal Law Amendment (8), news content, which is called crime of drunken driving and dangerous driving by many scholars, is added to the terms of "Traffic Accident Crime". It is a typical crime of negligent risky behaviors. Crime of negligent risky behaviors has been clearly affirmed by legislators, and the emergence of the next ones is only a matter of time.I agree with the view:whether in legislative or judicial aspect, the mere publicization of the spirit or idea is like castles in the air. Only if when the criminal law aims at social effects can its foundation be firmed. Criminal law can not only focus on the logic consistence of its theory while being indifferent to social reality. In the modern society, people have enhanced their risk awareness and increased their requirements on safety. Criminal law should make adjustments, and pursue the completion of the theoretical system so as to give full play in protecting legal interests and keeping order. Some scholars suggested that crimes of negligent risks should be set in fields like environment and health, food and drug safety, construction in order to control ever-growing social risks. This suggestion is worth considering, but the expansion of crimes of negligent risks contains risks. What kind of principle should we obey? How should we deal with the issue of crimes of negligent risks? To improve the system of crimes of negligent risks, it is necessary not only to prevent improper conviction in legislation, but also do justice charges in the identification and accountability in judicature.