Changes lead to drop in prosecutions of minor crimes

Procuratorates nationwide downgraded the arrests of 88,000 people and decided not to prosecute 202,000 people involved in minor crimes that did not require criminal punishment, according to the annual work report of the top procuratorate released on Monday.

The report was submitted by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate to the ongoing fourth session of the 13th National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, for deliberation.

The system of imposing lenient punishments on those confessing to crimes and willing to accept punishments in criminal cases provides an institutionalized guarantee for carrying out the “fewer arrests and careful prosecution” policy, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said.

The report said the system originated in China’s economic development, social stability and significant changes in the criminal crimes structure, with the proportion of felony cases continuing to decline and the number of misdemeanor cases increasing.

The proportion of cases in which criminals were sentenced to less than three years in prison rose from 53.9 percent in 2000 to 77.4 percent in 2020. The system could be more conducive to resolve existing conflicts and improving social governance, the report said.

Procuratorates have always maintained strict prosecution and hadn’t lowered the standards of proving guilty, it said. Procuratorates also worked with public security organs and the court to accurately practice the judicial philosophy and comprehensively review the facts and evidence of the case.

According to the report, the rate of pre-trial detention fell from 96.8 percent in 2000 to 53 percent in 2020.

Last year, more than 85 percent of cases applied the approach of imposing lenient punishment on those confessing to their crimes and accepting punishment.

Nearly 95 percent of the recommended sentences from procuratorates were adopted by courts when dealing with cases of imposing leniency.