An Empirical Study On The Sentencing Of Duty-related Crimes Of Senior Officials

Marked by the convening of the eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China,the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China began to carry out anti-corruption work with great determination,and China entered a new era of high-pressure anti-corruption.With the fall of many senior officials at the provincial and ministerial levels,the sentencing of duty-related crimes of senior officials has also received widespread attention.However,in judicial practice,the balance of sentencing of duty-related crimes of senior officials has always been questioned,which may seriously damage the judicial credibility of our country.In order to explore the balance of sentencing for senior officials and the main factors affecting the balance of sentencing,the paper makes a statistical analysis of 145 cases of senior officials at or above the provincial and ministerial levels during the 18th to 19th National Congress.Further empirical study shows that:there is no obvious correlation between the crime of holding a huge amount of property with unidentified sources and the crime of abuse of authority and the declared penalty;except that the criminal amount has a decisive influence on the declared penalty of bribery crime,the circumstances of surrender,meritorious service and return of stolen goods have significant influence on the declared penalty,the influence of non-amount plot,extort bribes,attempted crime,confession,repentance and active withdrawal of stolen goods is not significant.It can be concluded that there is a real risk of unbalanced sentencing in duty-related crimes of senior officials,which is manifested in the following aspects:the unreasonable of the penalty system of duty-related crimes affects the effect of the criminal amount on the declared penalty;the double-track evaluation model of "amount+circumstance" of corruption and bribery crime has not been well applied in judicial practice,the penalty measurement of bribery crime is still the "only amount theory"model,and the penalty measurement function of non-amount plot has been falsified;the statutory circumstances of sentencing such as extort bribes and confession have the risk of dilution,while the discretionary circumstances such as return of stolen goods and repentance have the risk of over-application.Therefore,we should improve the penalty system of duty crime.And we should adjust the content of the non-amount plot of the crime of corruption and bribery and endow it with independent sentencing function.We also should improve the content system of discretionary circumstances,standardize the applicable standards,and reduce the leniency of discretionary circumstances such as returning stolen goods.Only in this way can we minimize the risk of unbalanced sentencing of duty crimes and achieve the goal of fair justice.