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August 31, 2015

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Lawmakers tighten rules on corruption sentences

Source: AP | August 31, 2015, Monday | Print Edition

CHINA has amended the country’s criminal law, tightening corruption sentencing, reclassifying sex with underage girls as rape and eliminating the death penalty for nine crimes.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress said people convicted of serious corruption charges and who were handed death sentences suspended for two years will have those converted to life in prison after the two-year period, Xinhua news agency reported.

The change is to “safeguard judicial fairness” and prevent “the most corrupt criminals from serving shorter prison terms through commutation,” Xinhua quoted the NPC as saying.

Ruan Qilin, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, told Xinhua that the change to corruption sentencing was aimed at officials who use illegal means to have their sentences commuted or to achieve parole or avoid prison.

China also repealed the crime of sex with girls who are underage and instead made it rape, a crime subject to harsher punishment, Xinhua said.

Previously under the law, people who had sex with “prostitutes” aged below 14 years old faced a maximum of 15 years in prison.

Those convicted of raping a child may face the death sentence under the new law.

Prostitution is illegal in China but an estimated several million sex workers operate from establishments including karaoke bars, hair salons, saunas and massage parlors.

China’s public security ministry ordered a nationwide crackdown on the sex trade last year following an expose of a city known for prostitution amid criticism that authorities long turned a blind eye.

The NPC also approved the removal of the death penalty for nine crimes, Xinhua said.

These include smuggling of weapons, ammunition, nuclear materials and counterfeit currency; the counterfeiting of currency; fraudulently raising funds; arranging for a person or forcing a person to carry out prostitution; the obstruction of duty of a police officer; and creating rumors during wartime to mislead people.

The NPC, China’s top legislature, said that the maximum penalty for those crimes would become life in prison.

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