Research On Crime Of Defamation

Crime of defamation is a slighter accusation in Criminal Law of China, which has not been taken as the important research area of criminal law. Even there is some dispute of its existence and abolishment in academic field .However, with the development of communicational means, some new situation occur in crime of defamation. Especially with the gradual perfection of human rights and civil awareness of reputation , the crime of defamation ,which gives balance between the freedom of speech and right of reputation will show its value in future years.The paper includes five parts. In the first part, the author summarizes the conflicts between the freedom of speech and right of reputation which protected by crime of defamation, and studies the development of the defamation in each historical stage. In the second part, the author introduces the legislation of crime of defamation in other countries, contrasts the differences between its status, sentencing , constitution of defamation crime, and discusses it's existence value and so on. In the third part, the constitutive elements of the crime are analyzed in details. In the fourth part, the author analyzes circumstance of seriously endangering the social order and national interests in defamation crime and thinks we should take amount, loss, and hazard scope into account for correct convicting and sentencing. In the fifth part, some new situations faced by crime of defamation under internet stage are discussed.