The Determination Of "Benefit For Others" In Bribery Crime

In recent years, corruption has become a hot issue of Chinese people’s growing concern. The judicial organs of China also continue to strengthen efforts to crack down on such crimes. At present, the important bribery cases gradually increase, damaging the party and the government’s clean image, the people’s demand to root out the corrupt officials and severely punish corruption is growing. Therefore, only by increasing the intensity of punishing such crimes and especially the bribery crimes, can we meet the public feeling and opinion and promote social harmony and stability.In accordance with the provisions of the criminal law on the bribery crime, the national staff who take advantage of their position to accept other’s property illegally and seek benefits for others can constitute the crime of accepting bribes. It is very difficult to determine "seeking benefits for others" in the judicial practice. Although some national staff accept other’s property by taking advantage of their position, they don’t seek benefits for others, which has become the excuse for them to defend their innocence. There are multiple perspectives on "seeking benefits for others" in the judicial practice and the criminal law field, some people are in favor of retaining it, but some people are proposed to cancel it. Those in favor of retaining it also have different opinions on the status of this element in the crime of accepting bribes, mainly, there are "old objective element theory"、"subjective element theory"、"new objective element theory" and "dual elements theory".This paper uses the real case to draw forth the controversy focus of the element "seeking benefits for others" in bribery, it starts from the provisions of "seeking benefits for others" in the Criminal Law and the legislative history of bribery. Then, this paper makes an introduction and an assessment through various disputes of "seeking benefits for others" element’s retainment and cancellation, and it comes up with the idea that "seeking benefits for others" is essential to bribery, and it applies to "new objective theory", which should be retained. Finally, this paper proposes how to understand the "seeking benefits for others" element and how to identify the "seeking benefits for others" element’s behavior.