Criminal Control and Evaluation of ExtremeNationalist Terrorist Crime

Ran+Hui

DOI：10.3969/j.issn.1674-9391.2017.01.07 Abstract：After entering the 21st century， terrorist crimes have become more serious. Terrorism has become one of the worst problems of the modern world and will continue to be a serious problem in the future. China is also facing the challenge of terrorist crime. Can the present criminal system accomplish the mission of legislative control of these crimes and fulfill the goal of penalising them？ It seems that a review and evaluation of the relevant criminal legislation and policies is necessary.

There are different definitions of terrorist crimes. American scholars Alex P. Schmid and Albert J. Jongman gave a review of 109 different definitions that appeared during the period from 1936 to 1983， and proposed their own opinions in the book Political Terrorism. Chinese scholar Hu Lianhe analyzed 50 definitions that appeared after 1982， and proposed his own idea. On January 1 2016， the third article of the Zhonghua renmin gongheguo fan kongbu zhuyi fa （Anti-terrorism Law of the P.R.C） formally defines “terrorism” and “terrorist activities”. Generally speaking， both the academic and legal definitions have generalized three characteristics of “terrorist crime” from subjective and objective aspects： 1） taking social order， public security， personnel and property as the target of the （terrorist） behavior； 2） hurting the targets described above or threatening the state organs or international organizations by way of violence， destruction or intimidation； 3） taking the realization of some certain political or ideological purpose and claims as the ultimate goal of the （terrorist） behavior.

Concerning the relation between extreme nationalism and terrorism， the general idea is that “there is no pure form of nationalism； it is always combined with some certain political or social power， and characterized with social movement or historical process”. And seeing from the development course of terrorism， “nationalism is one of the most permanent roots of terrorism”， and is also “one of the most powerful roots of terrorism.”

China has mainly experienced five revisions of its law concerning terrorist crimes： 1） revising criminal law in 1997， and including terrorist organizations into the criminal penalty for the first time ； 2） legislating about terrorist crimes in the xingfa xiuzhengan san （Criminal Law Amendment III） in 2001； 3） intensifying the applicability of the criminal law to terrorist crimes in the xingfa xiuzhengan ba （Criminal Law Amendment VIII） in 2011； 4） including technical detection measures of crime on terrorist activities in the xingshi susong fa （Criminal Procedure Law） revised in March 2012， thereby establishing the legal position of this kind of detection measure in criminal procedure； 5） substantially adding accusations in the xingfa xiuzhengan jiu （Criminal Law Amendment IX） revised in 2015， and strongly fighting against the terrorist crime .

“As one of the social policies， criminal policy is a kind of countermeasure to handle different kinds of crime without delay - this determines that the formulation of criminal policy is bound to social politics and economics in a period of time.” Since the founding of New China， China has made up corresponding criminal policies according to the social needs and criminal status in different eras. In order to maintain a harmonious relationship between various ethnic groups， and respect the ethnic culture and customs， a criminal policy called “liangshao yikuan” （“less arrested， less killed， and punished leniently”） had been carried out concerning the ethnic minority crimes. However， this criminal policy which had played an important role in juridical practice in handling criminal cases of ethnic minorities is unlikely to be a basic criminal policy for the control of extreme nationalist terrorist crimes in the present day. On the new historical stage， “kuanyan xiangji” （combining punishment with leniency） has become a basic policy for dealing with criminals in China—this policy is based on the inheritance of the rational connotation of the combination of serious and lenient punishment in the criminal policy， and learning the experience or lessons of “seriously fighting” criminal crimes since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy. Doubtlessly， this new criminal policy has a guidance significance in the punishment of all criminal activities， including extreme nationalist terrorist crimes of the present.

A basic evaluation of Chinas criminal legislation on the punishment of extreme nationalist terrorist crimes is： 1） it has developed from non-existence to existence； the relevant criminal legislation is in accord with the developmental direction of domestic terrorist crimes and the anti-terrorism situation； 2） it has worked in concert with the anti-terrorism strategy of the UN， and performed a state partys duty； 3） it has an obvious tendency of “severe penalty ”； 4） the revision of criminal law has started to be influenced by the risk concept of criminal law.

In summation， Chinas criminal legislation and criminal policies have a positive significance in controlling the extreme nationalist terrorism crimes. However， there are still some deficiencies of the strategies of controlling crime. Hence， the following issues should be addressed in the subsequent legislation： 1） Before identifying a kind of behavior as a crime， one should judge whether the duty attached to the new accusation is a kind of excessive demand on the ordinary people； 2） The rationality of the expected goal of criminal legislation cannot guarantee the rationality of a specific system， therefore， the lawmakers also need to consider whether the measures for realizing the goal are reasonable. 3） The deserved function of the non-criminal penalty method should be noticed， and it should be developed rationally and harmoniously together with the criminal penalty，thus a solid system which can control extreme nationalist terrorist crime should then be constructed. 4） The guarantee of human rights also cannot be ignored in the anti-terrorist legislation and criminal policies.

Key Words：extreme nationalism； terrorism； criminal control；criminal policies

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