If you were asked to file a lawsuit, how come you were not found guilty?

Chapter 253 Can people be commodities?

As soon as Bai Jiasong finished speaking, dozens of hands were raised.

"This is my classmate."

Bai Jiasong ordered one casually.

“Selling reading and absorbing reading.”

The student's answer was very concise: "Selling reading materials is a crime. Buying reading materials or absorbing reading materials is only illegal, but it is not enough to constitute a crime."

"However, the example this classmate gave is very typical."

Bai Jiasong motioned for him to sit down: "In our current criminal law, the penalties for joint offenders are basically the same. Like what I just said about collecting ashes and carrying ashes, one can be sentenced to death at most, and the other can be sentenced to life in prison. .

Another example is the crime of buying counterfeit currency and the crime of selling counterfeit currency. The penalties are exactly the same.

However, looking back at the crimes of abducting women and children and bribing women and children that we are discussing today, they are both common offenders, but their punishments are very different, completely contrary to our current criminal theory.

So why are the statutory sentences for the crime of bribing women and children so light? Today, behind closed doors, I would like to tell you some more realistic things.

In some parts of our country, especially in remote mountainous areas, buying and selling people is sometimes a tacit 'custom'. In some places, using money to help singles solve their marriage problems has even become something that the whole village is willing to contribute to - everyone participates, resulting in no one being responsible. This is a clear manifestation of the current situation where the law does not blame the public. !

But does the law really blame everyone? I don’t think so. The existence of law is to protect people’s basic rights. This fundamental purpose cannot be changed because of some bad customs. If even the most basic human rights are not protected, there will be no rule of law in society.

Even in our previous laws and regulations, there is an exemption clause for the crime of buying women and children. If you buy abducted women or children, do not abuse the children, and do not hinder their rescue, according to the opinions of the women being bought, Those who do not prevent them from returning to their original place of residence may not be held criminally responsible.

Does it sound funny to you? Our previous explanation of this clause is that the bribed women may have formed a stable family relationship in the local area. If the purchased women's resources continue to live in the local area during the rescue, they will not be held criminally responsible. "

Hearing this, the students below were in an uproar, and many of them had already taken out their mobile phones to search.

"I saw that some students are already checking. You don't need to check. I will tell you directly."

Bai Jiasong smiled: "This is the previous law. Now that the relevant regulations have been revised, you may not be able to search it.

According to the previous regulations, there is almost no criminal responsibility for buying a house. This law is in name only and simply ignores the rights of women and children who are bribed. I believe legislators have also noticed this problem. Now this exemption clause has been changed to a leniency clause. .

Our current regulations are that if there is no abuse and no obstruction to rescue, the punishment can be lighter or reduced.

Doesn’t that sound a lot more reasonable? Do you think the change is really good? "

Some students kept nodding.

“But my point of view is that this amendment still does not achieve the level of protection that women and children should have. In particular, the crime of bribing women and children can only be punished with a maximum sentence of three years. I think it does not meet the emotional expectations of the public.

Perhaps the law cannot change people's hearts, but the law should make a difference. If it cannot completely cure this phenomenon, at least it can change it even a little bit, so that these victims can see hope.

Therefore, my point of view is that the statutory penalties for the crime of bribing women and children should be increased. "

After Bai Jiasong finished speaking, there was a rare lack of applause from the audience this time.

The students were all thinking. Obviously, the reality revealed by Bai Jiasong had a big impact on them.

"Then let's ask lawyer Ren to talk about your point of view, right?"

As the host, Chen Guangming always pays attention to the situation in the audience.

"First of all, I am very grateful to Professor Chen for giving me the opportunity to appear here. I never thought that one day I would sit on the stage as a guest and discuss issues with the top scholars in the criminal law field."

Although I don't like this very much, on such an occasion, Ren Zhen has to say a few polite words:

"Then let me briefly explain my point of view. The reason why I received the invitation today is because Professor Bai has seen a case I did before. Some classmates may have also seen that case. I said it at the court hearing at that time. In a word, I said that the criminal penalties for selling birds and selling people are similar. Is this reasonable?

So what we are discussing today is the crime of bribing women and children. We will find that if I modify the sentence I just said, it will become that the criminal penalty for selling birds is heavier than buying people. Is this reasonable? "

Of course it’s unreasonable!

Looking at the expressions of the students in the audience, Ren Zhen knew that most people had this answer in mind.

"So before expressing my views on this issue, I want to state a position first, that is, whether it is buying or abducting women or children, it should be absolutely condemned and punished in any country, at any time, and in any legal system. the behavior of.

I am also opposed to such behavior, and I also agree with the way that our country’s criminal law stipulates the two acts of buying and selling as targeted offenders. But regarding this issue, my point of view is that the punishment for the crime of bribing women and children is not necessarily To be improved. "

As soon as these words came out, the whole place was in an uproar.

With Bai Jiasong's speech first, most students have basically accepted his point of view. Moreover, Ren Zhen has also stated that he is opposed to the bribery of women and children. How could he give such a point of view?

If my views were the same as Bai Jiasong's, there would be no need for me to come here today.

Ren Zhen sighed. From the beginning when he expressed his views on this issue to Chen Guangming, he had guessed that this would be the situation at the scene.

This is still in college. If he expresses this opinion online or in other public places, a bunch of people will definitely come up and scold him. If they get more excited, they might just throw eggs at him.

“I know people are a little weird, so I’m just saying this up front.

Some people think that the legal penalty for procuring women and children should be increased. I understand this. However, if you think that because of this view, I do not care about the fate of trafficked women and children, I think it is unfair to me.

It is normal to have differences of opinion. I hope everyone can look at the problem rationally and have their own thoughts. "

After stacking the armor, Ren Zhen officially started:

“First, let’s review the provisions of the criminal law on the crime of bribing women and children.

Anyone who buys abducted women or children shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, public surveillance or criminal detention;

Anyone who bribes a trafficked woman and forcibly has sexual relations with her shall be punished in accordance with the relevant provisions of this law on the crime of rape;

Anyone who bribes abducted women or children, illegally deprives or restricts their personal freedom, or commits any crime such as injury shall be punished in accordance with the relevant provisions of this law.

There are some other provisions, I will not list them one by one, but from the provisions I just mentioned, it can be seen that the act of bribing abducted women and children is indeed punishable by up to three years.

However, if other criminal acts occur after the bribery, the offender must still be punished in accordance with other relevant criminal regulations.

Therefore, I think that if we comprehensively evaluate the behavior of bribing women and children, we should not only look at the first paragraph of this law, but we must combine all the provisions of this law. After a comprehensive evaluation, the statutory penalty for this crime is actually It's not as low as Professor Bai said. So I think the point of view that Professor Bai just said is reasonable.

According to the provisions of the criminal law, the penalties for common offenders are basically the same. However, the crime of abducting women and children and the crime of bribing women and children are indeed special. Their penalties are indeed very different, even to the extent that they are similar to those of common offenders. The two parties are in conflict with the basic legal principles.

As I just said, people seem to be less valuable than birds. From this perspective, no one can be convinced by such a law.

But what I want to say is that the nature of the crime of bribing women and children is quite special, and it cannot be simply compared with other crimes of buying and selling.

Take the crime of illegally acquiring and selling precious and endangered wildlife as an example. Both crimes seem to punish the purchase, but the meanings behind the two crimes are completely different.

For people who buy parrots, they usually keep them as pets. After the purchase is completed, there is rarely any harm to the interests of the animal itself, so the evaluation of this crime is basically are included in the purchasing behavior. In other words, just punishing the purchase behavior is enough.

But what is the punishment for the crime of bribing women and children?

Take buying a woman as an example. In layman's terms, it means buying a daughter-in-law. If you buy a daughter-in-law, you will naturally have sex with her. Therefore, the probability that the buyer will commit rape next is very high; or if the woman is older, Child, or for other reasons of the buyer, they have not had sexual relations for the time being, but for the women who are bribed, they will almost certainly face the end of being beaten and deprived of their freedom. At this time, the buyer may commit crimes such as intentional injury and illegal detention. Sex is also relatively big.

Therefore, looking at the act of "bribing women and children" in transactions with human traffickers, it is actually in a preparatory position to prepare for subsequent crimes.

In this case, criminalizing the bribery of women and children separately actually reflects the punishment and crackdown on bribery.

I know some students may not agree with my explanation, but I would like to ask everyone to think about it. If the bribery behavior is separated from other subsequent criminal behaviors, how will the bribery behavior itself be evaluated?

Are there any classmates willing to share? "

Faced with Ren Zhen's question, obviously there were far fewer people raising their hands.

Ren Zhen casually clicked on the nearest girl.

"I think it may have violated human dignity?"

The classmate's tone was uncertain.

"Any more?"

Ren Zhen looked at the others.

"This behavior objectifies women."

Someone shouted.

"Yes, that's a good answer, but the crime of bribing women and children has a child behind it."

Ren Zhen smiled and looked in that direction.

"That's treating human bodies as commodities."

Someone in the front row answered.

"Well, so if we completely separate ourselves from the behavior after the acquisition and just look at the transaction itself, we find that the legal rights infringed by this behavior are relatively significant, but we have to admit that it is very limited.

Because in modern society and the current environment, it is common for people to sell their brain power, physical strength, and even their bodies.

To be realistic, a well-matched business marriage, an ordinary family's financial resources, or even an offline dating agency, which we used to call matchmakers, all involve financial interests.

So if we don’t consider the actual harm, but only consider human dignity, and only consider whether the human body can be objectified, do you think the act of bribery should still be severely punished?

If the current penalties for buying women and children are not strong enough, then I think the act of selling silver should also be criminalized, not just illegal. "

"But selling silver is voluntary, but women and children who are trafficked are forced."

The girl just now retorted immediately before she sat down.

"You are right, this is indeed the majority of cases, but the reality is not the majority."

Ren Zhen waved his hand and motioned for the girl to sit down:

"I would like to ask everyone to imagine a scenario. A trafficker brings a woman he abducted, beats and scolds him, and comes to a village, asking if anyone wants to buy it. Now you have two choices:

One is not to buy it, allowing the woman to continue to be tortured by human traffickers; the other is to buy her, so that she can at least temporarily escape the situation of being tortured and imprisoned.

If such a transaction is to be convicted, do you still think that the current three years is too young?

I want to remind everyone that the transaction here is not between the buyer and the trafficked woman, but between the buyer and the trafficker.

And we also need to admit that even in real life, there are actually many cases where women voluntarily leave their original living area and marry into the buyer's family through human traffickers.

Especially in some of our border areas, illegal transnational marriage markets have always existed. How should we deal with such marriages that are not protected by our laws in terms of criminal law?

If it is believed that abducting women is a crime, but personal wishes can exclude the crime, then it is possible to conclude that the woman is not guilty if she is willing; on the contrary, if you insist that the human body cannot be bought and sold, no one should be objectified concept, then human trafficking should be banned regardless of whether women agree with it or not.

But in fact, it is impossible for the law to take into account the wishes of every victim, otherwise there will be ambiguities in the implementation of the law.

Therefore, we can only adopt the latter view. Regardless of whether women are willing or not, bribery should be punished.

So our country's current "fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or control" actually leaves a space that can be relatively controlled in operation for areas that cannot be clearly regulated by law. "

(End of this chapter)