Passing the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Penal Code: Abolishing the death penalty for 8 crimes

(Chinhphu.vn) - The law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Penal Code passed by the National Assembly has abolished the death penalty for eight crimes, including embezzlement and bribery.

The National Assembly voted to pass the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Penal Code.

Continuing the program of the 9th Session, 15th National Assembly, this morning (June 25), with 429/439 delegates participating in the vote in favor (equal to 89.75% of the total number of National Assembly delegates), the National Assembly passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Penal Code.

Notably, the newly passed Law has abolished the death penalty for 8 crimes including: Activities aimed at overthrowing the people's government; Sabotaging the material and technical facilities of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; Producing and trading in counterfeit medicines and disease prevention products; Illegally transporting narcotics; Sabotaging peace , waging aggressive wars; Espionage (Article 110); Embezzlement of property; Receiving bribes.

Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh presented a report on receiving and explaining opinions on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Penal Code.

Why abolish the death penalty for 8 crimes?

Before the National Assembly voted to pass the Law, presented the Report on receiving and explaining opinions on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Penal Code, Minister of Justice Nguyen Hai Ninh emphasized that amending and supplementing the Penal Code at the present time is necessary.

According to Minister Nguyen Hai Ninh, the Government proposed reducing the number of crimes punishable by death in order to continue institutionalizing the Party's viewpoint and policy on continuing to reduce the death penalty; on the basis of inheriting the spirit of gradually reducing the death penalty in the Penal Code through amendments and supplements.

Specifically, in the 1985 Penal Code there were 44 crimes punishable by death, in the 1999 Penal Code there were 29 crimes punishable by death, in the 2009 revised Penal Code there were 22 crimes punishable by death, and in the 2015 Penal Code there were only 18 crimes punishable by death.

In this amendment, the Government proposes to remove 8 crimes with the death penalty based on careful research and assessment of the following issues:

Based on the nature and extent of the crime; the importance of the protected object; the ability to remedy the consequences caused by the crime.

Based on the results of the summary of the implementation of the Penal Code, many crimes have provisions for the death penalty but have not been applied in practice in recent times.

International experience shows that currently, the trend of reducing the death penalty in legal regulations as well as in practice in the world is common. Of the 193 countries that are members of the United Nations, only more than 50 countries have regulations on the death penalty.

Vietnam's responsibilities and obligations as a member of relevant international treaties, especially Article 6, Clause 2 of the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, stipulates: "In countries where the death penalty has not been abolished, the death penalty may only be applied for the most serious crimes."

Serving our country's international cooperation activities, especially in the current context, when Vietnam is expanding international cooperation extensively in all areas of social life, building a legal system similar to the majority of countries in the world will contribute significantly to promoting increasingly strong cooperative relations and mutual trust.

Responsibilities and capacities of state management agencies and law enforcement agencies in the current period.

From the above issues, the Government finds that the abolition of the death penalty for 8 crimes as in the draft Law submitted to the 15th National Assembly at the 9th Session is appropriate in the current conditions of our country, on the one hand still meeting the requirements of the fight against crime, on the other hand meeting the process of continuing to reduce the death penalty, as well as the requirements of cooperation and expansion of international relations for national development.

Particularly for the crimes of embezzlement and bribery, after abolishing the death penalty, in order to ensure the recovery of assets obtained from crimes and at the same time encourage criminals to actively report during the process of resolving cases, the draft Law has amended and supplemented the provisions in Clause 1, Article 63 in the direction: A person sentenced to life imprisonment for the crimes of embezzlement and bribery can only be considered for a reduction in the term of serving the sentence when he has proactively returned at least three-quarters of the embezzled or bribed assets and has actively cooperated with the authorities in detecting, investigating, and handling crimes or has made great achievements.

Criminalization of illegal drug use

Another notable content is the addition of the crime of illegal drug use. According to Minister Nguyen Hai Ninh, this is based on many grounds, specifically: Implementing the policy of applying stricter criminal policies to reduce drug demand, stopping the relationship between drug supply and demand.

Furthermore, the practice of fighting, preventing and combating crimes and violations of drug laws shows that, currently, the situation of drug addiction is very complicated, the number of drug addicts is on the rise; drugs are one of the common causes leading to other types of crimes such as theft of property, fraud, extortion, robbery... Illegal drug users fall into a state of "stonedness", committing particularly serious crimes such as murder, rape... with an increasing trend.

Current law stipulates the handling of the crime of illegal possession of narcotics, and this crime is mainly for those who possess narcotics for use. Thus, after a person buys narcotics for use, if he or she is discovered before using them, he or she will be handled for the act of illegal possession of narcotics, but if he or she is using or has used narcotics, he or she will not be handled for the corresponding act.

The reality of drug addiction treatment shows that many people who are in the process of drug addiction treatment or immediately after completing the treatment process continue to illegally use drugs, but there are no measures or sanctions to deal with these cases.

Therefore, the addition of the crime of illegal use of narcotics is necessary in the current situation. However, Article 256a of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Penal Code this time does not apply to all illegal drug users but only applies to those who are undergoing drug rehabilitation or have undergone drug rehabilitation but this measure has “failed”, and those who have undergone drug rehabilitation continue to illegally use narcotics.

Regarding the increase in prison sentences and fines for some crimes, the Minister of Justice said that the starting prison sentences for some crimes related to the environment, food safety, and drugs will be increased, such as the crime of causing environmental pollution (Article 235), the crime of violating regulations on hazardous waste management (Article 236), the crime of illegally manufacturing narcotics (Article 248), the crime of illegally storing narcotics (Article 249), the crime of illegally buying and selling narcotics (Article 251), the crime of violating regulations on food safety (Article 317)...

The increase in the above penalty level is in accordance with the requirements of the fight against crime in our country at present and in the following years.

Thu Giang

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/thong-qua-luat-sua-doi-bo-sung-mot-so-dieu-cua-bo-luat-hinh-su-bo-an-tu-hinh-voi-8-toi-danh-102250625101117874.htm