The Criminal Study On The Behavior Of Threatening The Town Government By Appealing To The Higher Authorities For Help

Farmer Zhang who lives in Handan, Hebei province thinks that the land compensation istoo little, so he appealed to the higher authorities for help after expressing aspirations to thetown government fruitless. Later, though Zhang received20,000Yuan land compensationreissued by the government, Zhang was prosecuted by the government soon and wassentenced by the court because of blackmailing the government. The verdict has causedextensive controversy in the society and academia, the focus of the controversy is whetherZhang’s behavior is a legitimate act of safeguarding the rights or a criminal act that should beevaluated by the criminal law. By studying the case "Zhang blackmails the government ", thepaper intends to correctly identify the nature of behaviors such as threaten local governmentby appealing to the higher authorities for help, and provide feasible suggestions for the judgein dealing with such cases in judicial practice as also, which in order to preventing thegeneration of misjudged cases, maintaining the dignity of the judiciary, protecting theconstitutional rights of citizens, easing the social contradictions and maintaining socialstability.The thesis has about25000words and includes four parts in total.The first part: The basic information of the case. This part consists of four aspects: First,the cause of the case. Second, brief case description. Third, divergent opinions about the case,in which mainly introduces two opposing views on whether Zhang’s conduct constitutes thecrime of blackmailing. Forth, the focus of controversy in this case, that is how to evaluateZhang’s behavior in the criminal law qualitatively.The second part: The legal analysis of the problems related to the case. On basis ofanalyzing the reasons why citizens who threaten local government by appealing to the higherauthorities for help are convicted of the crime of blackmailing in judicial practice, consideringthe focus of controversy in this case, the second part of the paper mainly includes three legalproblems: First, the boundary of behavior of safeguarding the rights. This part mainlydiscusses the concept of the behavior of safeguarding the rights, the criterion of judgment onthe boundary and the nature of the behavior that safeguarding rights excessively. Second, theboundary of the crime of blackmailing. This part firstly researches two methods of proof on"the purpose of illegal possession", which are confession and judicial presumption, andfurther inquires into three basic facts which "the purpose of illegal possession" depends on; secondly, analyzes and summarizes five characteristics which the threatening behavior as theobjective aspect of the crime of blackmailing should have. Third, can the government becomethe criminal target of the crime of blackmailing when citizens appeal to the higher authoritiesfor help. By analyzing the scopes of the criminal target of the crime of blackmailing and theconditions which criminal target of the crime of blackmailing should have, this part concludesthat the government can not become the criminal target of the crime of blackmailing whencitizens appeal to the higher authorities for help.The third part: conclusion of the case. This part comes into the conclusion that Zhang’sact does not constitute the crime of blackmailing through analyzing from four aspects asfollows. First, as Zhang’s act is not accord with criminal object, Zhang’s act causes no damageand Zhang does not have "the purpose of illegal possession", Zhang’s act is a legitimate act ofsafeguarding the rights and has no social harmfulness. Second, considering the legal analysisof "the purpose of illegal possession" in the second part, we can deny that Zhang have "thepurpose of illegal possession", which bases three basic facts such as Zhang has legal right tothe Town Government, what Zhang threat related to disputes and Zhang exercise right withinthe scope of the right. Third, it demonstrates that Zhang’s behavior does not meet the objectiveelements of the crime of blackmailing through comparative analysis of Zhang’s behavior andthe objective behavior of the crime of blackmailing.The forth part: enlightenments of the case. This part consists of two aspects: first, itdiscusses the factors which should be considered by the judge in dealing with similar cases,that is to say the judge should fully consider the modesty of the criminal law as well as thesafeguard function of human rights in criminal law. Second, it treats the behavior ofthreatening local government by appealing to the higher authorities for help differentlyaccording to whether the person has objective right.