On The Crime Of Throwing Objects From High Altitude

Throwing objects from a high altitude is known as “the risks hanging over the city”,lightly damaging property and seriously endangering lives.In order to punish this bad habit and ensure “safety overhead”,it is necessary to include throwing objects from a high altitude into the scope of criminal regulation.To this end,the Supreme People’s Court has issued the Opinions on the Proper Trial of Cases of Throwing and Falling Objects from a High Altitude in accordance with the Law,but the courts have mostly dealt with cases of throwing objects from a high altitude in accordance with the Opinions as “crimes against public safety by dangerous means”.In order to achieve appropriate punishment,the Amendment to the Criminal Law(XI)added the crime of “throwing objects from a high altitude” to specifically punish the act of throwing objects from a high altitude.As a new crime,there are a number of issues that remain to be resolved.For example,is the legal interest protected by this crime “public safety” or “public order”? Another example is how to understand the elements of the crime,such as “high altitude”,“items” and “serious circumstances”.This paper presents its views by sorting out the different views of the academic community and combining them with the jurisprudence in practice.This paper is divided into four parts as follows.The first part presents an overview of the crime of throwing objects from a high altitude,focusing on its concept and legislative evolution.Throwing objects from a high altitude was originally regulated by civil law,and perpetrators who caused damage by throwing objects from a high altitude were liable for civil tort.In order to severely punish the act of throwing objects from high altitude,the Opinions for the first time explicitly included throwing objects from high altitude in the scope of criminal regulation.Subsequently,the Amendment to the Criminal Law(XI)specifically set up the crime of “throwing objects from high altitude”,thus solving the problem of irregular application of the crime and abnormally heavy sentences,and achieving the purpose of standardizing the conviction and adapting the punishment to the crime.The second part introduces the elements of the crime of throwing objects from a high altitude.Firstly,the object of the crime is the stability and tranquility of the public’s daily life.Secondly,the objective aspect of the crime is the act of throwing objects from buildings or other heights.When defining “high altitude”,the second floor and above(or 2 meters and above)can be considered as “high altitude” for the purpose of this crime,provided that the place where the object is thrown is a public place.However,attention must be paid to the special circumstances of throwing objects from the ground upwards,throwing objects at parallel heights and throwing objects from the ground downwards.There is no restriction on the type of “items” in this crime,but in determining whether it should be included in the category of “items” in this crime,it is necessary to take into account the height of the thrown object,the place and the quantity and weight of the thrown object and its dangerousness.Again,the subject of this crime is a general subject.However,the following two special circumstances should be noted: The first,the perpetrator is drunk and commits the act of throwing objects from a height.The second,under the age of sixteen years of age to implement the act of throwing objects from a height.Finally,the subjective aspect of this crime is intentional.The third part introduces the judicial determination of the crime of throwing objects from a high altitude,focusing on the boundaries between the crime and the non-crime and between the crime and similar crimes.As regards the boundary between the crime and the non-crime,the description of the crime shows that the crime is a “circumstance crime”,so this part focuses on the determination of “serious circumstances”.As regards the boundary between the crime and similar crimes,starting from the judicial precedent in practice this paper analyses the boundaries between this crime and similar crimes in accordance with the provisions of Article 292(2)of the Criminal Law.The fourth part introduces the issues that should be noted in the application of the crime of throwing objects from a high altitude.Firstly,as this crime is a new crime with light statutory penalty,attention should be paid to the retrospective effect of the criminal law of this crime in judicial practice.Secondly,it is worth noting that all acts of throwing objects from a high altitude should not be evaluated as criminal acts across the board,and the crime should be prevented from being reduced to a “pocket crime”.Finally,civil and administrative liability should be activated,and civil and even administrative measures should be taken to punish acts of throwing objects from a high altitude that do not constitute a crime,so as to protect the people’s“overhead safety” to the greatest extent.