The discussion about “drunk driving into punishment” is on the hot search again.
Recently, some committee members proposed to appropriately raise the criminal threshold for “drunk driving” and modify the constituent elements of the crime of dangerous driving while intoxicated.
This remark also caused a strong backlash from netizens. In two or three days, the number of views on related topics exceeded 40 million.
Don’t drink and drive, don’t drink and drive. Since the criminalization of drunk driving in 2011, this has almost become our consensus.
According to public data, since the introduction of drunk driving in 2011, the proportion of drunk driving has decreased by 70% compared with before the enforcement of the penalty. Both reached 200 million transactions.
In the message area of @澎湃新闻, there is a comment with a high number of likes:
Resolutely support the criminalization of drunk driving, and demand that the enforcement rate be increased, so that everyone will be afraid so that they will not drink and drive!
“Raise the Penalty Standards for Drunk Driving”
Pi Jianlong, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and director of Beijing Jintai Law Firm, plans to submit to the conference the “Proposal on Amending the Constituent Elements of the Crime of “Drunk Driving” Dangerous Driving and Appropriately Raising the Penalty Threshold for “Drunk Driving””.
His suggestions include:
1. Change the constituent elements of the crime of “drunk driving” dangerous driving from the current “driving a motor vehicle while intoxicated” to “driving a motor vehicle while intoxicated and causing the inability to drive safely and creating an imminent and real danger to public safety”.
2. Moderately increase the penalty standard for drunk driving. For drunk driving with no traffic violations, no traffic accidents, and no harmful consequences, it is suggested that the blood alcohol content standard for drivers to be convicted and punished should be raised from 80 mg/100 ml to 200 mg/100 ml.
However, for traffic violations such as traffic accidents, escaping, driving without a license, recidivism, chasing and racing, driving on expressways, etc., the alcohol content of drunk driving exceeds 80 mg/100 ml.
3. Further reduce the actual penalty rate for drunk driving, clarify the conditions for the application of probation, and increase the application rate of probation.
4. Explore the application of conditional non-prosecution, and expand the scope of application of the leniency system for drunk driving.
Pi Jianlong believes that the feasibility of “drunk driving” criminalization and the investment of judicial resources should be fully considered, the standard for drunk driving should be revised, and the threshold for criminalization should be appropriately raised to reduce the incidence of crime.
In fact, this is not the first time that the standards for amending the penalty for drunk driving have been proposed. As early as last year’s two sessions, Zhu Lieyu, director of Guangdong Guoding Law Firm, suggested canceling the crime of drunk driving and dangerous driving.
At that time, there was a heated discussion, and the call for “abolishing the penalty for drunk driving” was also questioned.
Then, 12 years after the penalty for drunk driving has been implemented, why is there such a huge polarization?
In an interview with the media during the two sessions last year, Zhu Lieyu said that since drunk driving was penalized, the number of dangerous driving crimes of drunk driving is still rising, and it has now ranked first in the number of criminal cases, which has paid a huge human and material cost.
At present, the crime of dangerous driving has become the “No. 1 crime”. According to the data of the two high reports last year, courts at all levels will conclude 348,000 first-instance cases of dangerous driving in 2021, accounting for 27.7% of all criminal cases in my country.
What do people say?
Once the remarks of the two representatives were fermented on the Internet, the people and experts had their own opinions.
Jin Zegang, a law professor and doctoral supervisor at Tongji University, wrote in Pengbai News that it is not time to abolish the penalty for drunk driving.
Professor Jin Zegang’s point of view mainly has two points. First, the practice of drunk driving punishment in recent years has indeed achieved good legal timeliness. According to the data, in the ten years from 2011 to 2021, the number of casualties caused by drunk driving and drunk driving , a decrease of more than 20,000 cases compared with the ten years before the penalty for drunk driving, which shows that the current penalty for drunk driving has been statute of limitations and enhanced the overall sense of security in society.
Second, the penalty for drunk driving does occupy a high social cost, but “increasing the penalty for drunk driving” does not necessarily have to modify the existing legal provisions, and can start with the “channel of crime” that regulates drunk driving behavior.
For now, the penalty for drunk driving has achieved its fundamental purpose, reducing traffic accidents. At the same time, the concept of “driving without drinking and drinking without driving” has also been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
At the same time, some bloggers also expressed their views that they support the appropriate raising of the threshold. History writer Zhang Yi’an gave two explanations on Weibo.
One is that there are now many driver drivers who will use the penalty for drunk driving to deliberately keep entering the parking space, inducing the drunk driver to move the car by himself, thereby extorting money.
Second, as long as a person sits in the driver’s seat and starts the engine, the car is considered to be moving, but some drunk drivers just want to turn on the air conditioner and heater, so it is unfair to be considered drunk driving.
In fact, in the final analysis, it is the people who have the greatest say in whether or not to cancel drunk driving. After the topic came out, the reaction of the masses is as follows:
Some people think that since 300,000 people are still sentenced every year, it means that the crackdown can be increased and the threshold for drunk driving can be lowered.
Others believe that drinking and driving is a serious problem, and no matter how it is reduced, its danger cannot be eliminated; and the behavior of drinking and driving is man-made, and the punishment should be increased.