On The Criminal Policy Of Drug Crime

Having become a severe threat to the existence and development of human society, drugs and drug crime in China are in a grave situation, making the task of drug crime prevention and control extremely challenging. In December 2007, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed "the Law on Drug Control", thus paved the way for deep research into drug crime. Being an important guiding role in crime control, criminal legislation and criminal law application, criminal policy is the soul of criminal legislation and the guide for criminal justice, as well as the basic rule in a nation' fighting against crimes, however, by the end of 2007, there has been only one master degree thesis by a law graduate concerning the criminal policy of drug crime, what's more, there has so far been no thesis on this field by criminal law graduates. Besides, there has been quite few papers in periodicals treating this subject, thus doing research into it is kind of pioneering and is of both theoretical and practical significance. On the one hand, it is helpful to improve the backward condition of theoretical research in the criminal policy of drug crime in our country, thus at the background of criminal integration, the research perspective of drug crime could be shifted from annotation of the criminal law to other fields of the criminal law, especially those of criminology and criminal policy study; on the other hand, at the time of vigorously building up the a harmonious socialism society, efficient control of drug crime is essential, thus launching the research into the criminal policy of drug crime can contribute to building up a scientific, reasonable and efficient system of drug prevention and control, thus provide theoretical direction for judicial authorities in their implementation of criminal policy with mercy.This thesis is divided into seven parts and is about 70,000 words.The introduction. This part deals with the general background for starting the study on the criminal policy of drug crime. An overview of the research into this field is introduced and then its significance and research approaches are pointed out. In the last three decades since the reform and opening up policy was carried out, our government has maintained the severe punishment for drug crime and a legal system on drug control highlighting criminal legislation has come to its existence. But still the perfection of drug crime legislation and severe punishment on drug crimes have not fundamentally prevented the nurturing and spreading of drug them, therefore it still calls for our serious consideration at present China. In October 2006, the our party's sixth plenary of its sixteenth session passed "the central government's decision on some important issues on building up a harmonious socialism society", in which the unprecedented cause of building up a harmonious socialism society was put forward formally, and meanwhile the principle of tempering criminal law with mercy was also brought forth. The "Law on Drug Control" passed in 2007 provides an opportunity for deep research into the criminal policy of drug crime. Judging from the existing research results, the theoretical study on the criminal policy of drug crime still remains rather insufficient. These factors form the important background for the study on the criminal policy of drug crime.PartⅠ: Some basic questions on the study of the criminal policy of drug crime. This part serves as a theoretical foundation for the whole thesis by giving a comprehensive analysis on drugs, drug crime and the criminal policy of drug crime. At the macro-level, the criminal policy is a country's official reaction to crimes. The criminal policy of drug crime is a nation's general criminal policy's concrete embodiment at a certain phase of its history; it focuses on the developing trend of drug crime and reflects a country's basic attitude on drug crime through legislation, judicial and executive activities, with the goal of punishing and preventing drug crime. There exist five value bases in the criminal policy of drug crime, namely order, law, efficiency, humanity and science; they are of significance in guiding the making, executing and adjusting of the criminal policy of drug crime. In the overall system of crime prevention and control, the criminal policy of drug crime is closely related to the criminal law, the law on drug control, strategies on drug crime prevention and control, basic criminal policy and other criminal policies. From a global review of the criminal policy of drug crime, we can conclude that its making and implementation must be based on a country's practical situation such as its own developing trend of drug crime, its politics, society and culture, and so on.PartⅡ: The present situation of the drug crime in China. The developing trend of drug crime is the fact basis for the criminal policy of drug crime, so having an accurate observation of drug crime at a certain time could help us understand the criminal policy of drug crime. The present serious condition of drug crime in China is mainly reflected in the following six respects: firstly, our country has transformed from a drug transit state into a nation for both its transit and consumption, thus is playing a new role in the international drug market; secondly, geographically speaking, drug crime has made its way to most areas of China and there is a new trend for it to spread to the rural and economically backward areas; thirdly, judging from the already uncovered cases, its number has remained high and has shown a sign of growing each year, besides, severe cases are many; fourthly, drug crime of new forms are increasing rapidly and would develop to be a major form in our country; fifthly, farmers and jobless people take up a larger proportion and the more females and juvenile delinquents are joining in; finally, with regard to its means—cross-border dealing and domestic dealing exist at the same time; there is a wide use of modern technologies; it is becoming hard to detect; there is a wide use of weapons and the number of secret society crimes and organized crimes is rising.PartⅢ: The rational analysis about the criminal policy of drug crime in China. The unique characteristics of the criminal policy of drug crime in China are mainly as follows: the war against drug crime has ascended to a new height where it is related to the future of our nation and is considered a "people's war" in the era of peace; severe punishment of drug crime has been carried out to today since the founding of new China - the new government has been stressing the use of criminal law in the prevention and control of drug crime and there are a variety of drug crimes stated in its criminal law, the implementation of the law is relatively grave; emphasizing the comprehensive treatment in drug crime—the government applied the policy of "prevention first; comprehensive treatment; prohibition of planting, producing, dealing and consuming at the same time ", China has also launched the "drug-free community" and "drug-free village" campaign. However, due to the inaccurate positioning of the function of the criminal law, especially its dependence on the death penalty, the "strike hard campaign" is frequently used; the implementation result of our criminal policy of drug crime is not so satisfactory.PartⅣ: Criminal policy in the legislation of drug crime. In order to prevent and control drug crime, every country has taken different policies towards drug crime, in which the crime circle and the set of criminal law, including criminalization and decriminalization, are concerned. The most controversial issues are the legalization of drugs and the assessment of drug taking. The point of "the legalization of drugs" which is put forward based on the reflection of every nation's policies on drug control, is to a certain extent reasonable. However, the idea of "legalization of drugs" is both unscientific and impractical. On the other hand, drug taking should not be considered a crime for it does not do extreme harm to our society, thus the decriminalization treatment is in accordance with the modesty - and -restraint principle in the criminal law and the principle of ensuring human rights.PartⅤ: Tempering with mercy of judicial application in drug crime. In the judicial application, the guiding role of tempering with mercy in the criminal law should be supported. We should be careful in deciding when and how to be merciful. For the purpose of strictly limiting the use of death penalty, we need to cherish the notion of ensuring human rights at first, the amount of drug should not be the only criterion in measuring whether or not to use the death sentence, but rather the details of a drug crime case should also be taken into account. Punishment against property is helpful in weakening a criminal's financial basis, in refraining a person from committing a drug crime, thus is of great importance in judicial application. Besides, drug crime by a juvenile delinquent has its own characteristics, and should be treated with more mercy, including stressing "the double - direction protection", exert the power of the juvenile courts, ensuring their right of action, be careful in using the punishment against property and deprivation of liberty, highlighting educational rehabilitation in the process of execution.PartⅥ: Suggestions on improving China's criminal policy of drug crime. The policy of "prevention first; comprehensive treatment; prohibition of planting, producing, dealing and consuming at the same time" that is stated in "the Law on Drug Control" is of scientific value and should be upheld in the future. Due to the inevitability of drug crime, its existence in China would be long, thus we should gradually change our understanding about drug crime - what we can do is only to control, not to eradicate it. Still social legislation should play a major part in the making of drug control laws and the law on medical aid to drug addicts should be perfected, laws on social security for the disadvantaged groups should be improved. Meanwhile, the actual result of drug crime control must be stressed in the future. To be exact, the following measures would be taken: reinforcing the control of drugs, tightening the control of the flowing - in drugs, strengthening the management on prohibition of drug consumption, preventing the number of addicts from growing, reducing demand, narrowing the drug market, strengthening supervision on entertaining places, standardizing the management order in substances that could be de into drugs, preventing drugs of new forms from spreading, improving drug control technologies and reinforcing abilities to fight against drug crime.