On The Equilibrium Between Crime And Punishment In Economic Crimes

The criminal law laid down in1997in our country has not changed itscharacteristics that it’s severe but not strict in the overall structure. In2006, thestate proposed the criminal policy of tempering justice with mercy instead of severepunishment since the1980s. However, the penalty structure of economic crimein the current criminal law of our country is still characterized by heavy sentence,which is deviated from the world trend of the development of criminal law. Economiccrime is in close touch with market economy,and it has its own remarkable feature. Itis necessary to individually study the equilibrium between crime and punishment ofthe economic crime, based on the combination of specificity of economic crimeand the practice of market economy.The equilibrium between crime and punishmentof the economic crime mainly refers to that the verdict should reflect thatthe degree of punishment is meant to be proportional to the seriousness of the crime,meanwhile, the disposition of criminal punishment should comply with thevalue of justice and can achieve the utilitarian goal of preventing crime effectively. Atpresent, in Chinese criminal law, the disequilibrium between crime and punishment ofthe economic crime is mainly reflected in two aspects: on the one hand, in the penaltyprovisions, the overall level of the penalty quantity is too harsh, the range of part ofsentencing grade is too large, the essence of crime is incommensurate to the essenceof penalty and so on; On the other hand, about the regulations of the scope of crime,the limit of administrative illegal behavior and the criminal offense is not clear, and itlacks the guiding ideology and the legal basis to make clear space between them, therange of economic crime is too broad. Stipulating the range of the economic crimereasonably is the premise of realizing equilibrium between crime and punishment ofthe economic crime, which is easy to be ignored in the study of it.The reasons for the disequilibrium between crime and punishment of theeconomic crime are varied. In theoretical research, the concept of economic crime isfuzzy, the study on the characteristics and control measures of economic crime isimmature, and the rationale of punishment is destitute. And also the purpose of penalty is not clear, which should punishes the criminals with severe punishment, andintends to prevent crime as well. In criminal policy and traditional thoughts, too muchand excessive intervention by the criminal law is embodied in the economic crime ourcountry changing from planned economy system to market economy system. Theidea of state standard makes private rights sacrifice for nation’s rights and interests,thus despising private rights indirectly encourage the generation of severe punishment.Besides, the problem of the disposition of criminal punishment not only increases thedifficulty and uncertainty of judgment, but also increases the public query, meanwhilethe legal authority is damaged. The uncertainty of punishment application reducesthe deterrence to the criminals, and then induce more crime, and the spread of crimefurther give birth to more severe punishment, which leads to vicious spiral. Theobjective value of penalty of economic crimes mainly lies in retributionand prevention, but prevention should be the primary objective of penalty value,retribution is the second, on the premise of that economic crime is marked by abstractseriousness.The severity of the economic crime includes the social harmfulness ofcrime and the subjective malignancy, which is the basis of the retribution in theeconomic crime. Personal danger in economic crime is different fromsubjective viciousness of the criminals, which not only includes danger of thecriminals, but also comprises danger of potential criminal, and that is the basis of thepreventable value in the penalty.The punishment should be geared to the seriousness of the crime, and justiceshould not be sacrificed for preventing crime. The judgment should be balanced to thepenalty that based on retribution and prevention, thereby achieving the equilibriumbetween crime and punishment. Aiming at the particularity of economic crime, it shallpromote research on the concept and characteristics of economic crime, be clear tothe purpose of penalty of economic crime, respect the laws of the socialist marketeconomy in economic crime and its penal regulation and configuration, and abide byrestrictive principle of criminal law to achieve the best effect of punishment withminimum input of penalty. When dealing with the economic crime, the qualificationspunishment must be valued. Comprehensive use of legal, economic, administrative,social and other measures could gradually cultivate the public ideology to gain economic interest by abiding laws, reduce the pressure of criminal law in dealing witheconomic crime and ensure the realization of restraining spirit of criminal law. Finally,it not only can achieve the purpose of safeguarding social justice, controlling andpreventing crimes, but also ensure a healthy development of socialist marketeconomy and maintain social harmony and stability.