Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction
Section 1 Summary of the Criminal Law
I Concept of the Criminal Law
II Tasks and functions of the Criminal Law
III System and interpretation of the Criminal Law
Section 2 Basic Principle of the Criminal Law
I The legally-prescribed conviction principle
II The equity principle which applicable to the Criminal Law
III The principle of compatibility of crime， responsibility and punishment
Section 3 Effectiveness of the Criminal Law
I Concept and category of the effectiveness of the Criminal Law
II Effect of space of the Criminal Law
III Effect of time of the Criminal law
Chapter 2 Concept of Crime
Section 1 Definition of Crime
I Outline of the definition of crime
II Definition of crime in the Criminal Law of the PRC
Section 2 Basic Characteristics of Crime
I Crime is a severely and socially harmful behavior that severely endangers society
II Crime is a criminally illegal behavior in violation of the Criminal Law
III Crime is a behavior that shall be given criminal punishment and is culpable of punishment
Chapter 3 Crime Constitution
Section 1 Overview
I Concept of constitution of crime
II Common elements for crime constitution
III Classification of crime constitution
Section 2 Criminal Object
I Concept of criminal object
II Category of criminal object
III Criminal object and crime target
Section 3 Objective Aspect of a Crime
I Overview of objective aspect of a crime
II Harmful behavior
III Harmful result
IV Causal relationship in Criminal Law
V Crime time， location and method
Section 4 Criminal Subject
I Overview of criminal subject
II Age for criminal responsibility
III Capacity for criminal responsibility and other factors influencing capacity for criminal responsibility
IV General subject and special subject
V Unit criminal subject
Section 5 Subjective Aspect of a Crime
I Overview of subjective aspect of a crime
II Criminal intent
III Criminal negligence
IV Purpose of crime and incentive of crime
V Cognition error of Criminal Law
……
Chapter 4 Cause of Justification
Chapter 5 Ceased Form of Intentional Crime
Chapter 6 Joint Crime
Chapter 7 Crime Number
Chapter 8 Criminal Liability
Chapter 9 Overview of Punishment
Chapter 10 Measurement of Penalty
Chapter 11 Implementation System of the Punishment
Chapter 12 Punishment Eradicatin System
Chapter 13 Overview of Monograph of Criminal Law
Appendix Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
Biography
Sample Pages Preview
Definition of crime in the Criminal Law of the PRC Definition and meaning of crime as stated in Article 13 of the Criminal Law of the PRC. Although specific provisions of the criminal law have made the definitions （facts about a crime or constitutive requirements） of specific criminal behaviors including theft and robbery, Section 13 of the Criminal Law defines crime as follows:
"A crime refers to an act that endangers the sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of the State, splits the State, subverts the State power of the people's democratic dictatorship and overthrows the socialist system, undermines public and economic order, violates State-owned property, property collectively owned by the working people, or property privately owned by citizens, infringes on the citizens' rights of the person, their democratic or other rights, and any other act that endangers society and is subject to punishment according to law. However, if the circumstances are obviously minor and the harm done is not serious, the act shall not be considered a crime." The definition highly summarizes the common characteristics in specific criminal behaviors （such as crime of intentional homicide, larceny, crime of pillage） as set forth in the Criminal Law.
As set out in Article 13 of the Criminal Law of the PRC, crime is a behavior that endangers society and is subject to punishment according to law, which is a definition of crime giving consideration to the substantive and formal characteristics, and integrating form with substance. Meaning of " proviso"
The definition of crime made in Article 13 of the Criminal Law contains both qualitative and quantitative requirements, and is of great importance in identifying and punistung crime. Such definition of crime not only defines the harmfulness and illegality of crime, but also sets a quantitative requirement that "if the circumstances are obviously minor and the harm done is not serious, the act shall not be considered a crime" , which is called the "proviso" of the definition of crime, and shows that to identify crime needs to not only correctly "determine the nature" but also to determine the "extent" or " amount" of harm. The basic concept of "proviso" is to empower judiciary authorities to exclude crime as appropriate by making quantitative requirements for the substantive characteristics of crime so as not to enter a rigid and dogmatic judgement for excessively sticking to legal form. For in- stance, the importunity by a person above 14 and under 16 of a small amount of possessions fits the characteristic of robbery, but as the circumstance is obviously minor and the harm done is not serious, the act shall not be considered a crime.
"Proviso" is a macroscopic standard for differentiating "unlawful act" from "criminal act" and produced by the needs of the legal structure of our country. The punishment system of our country for dangerous acts is composed of laws at two levels
（1） The law at the first level refers to the public security management punishment law, regulations on reeducation through labor, penalty provisions of administrative and economic regulations on industry and commerce, customs, tax and otherwise, in violation of which the behavior is "unlawful".
（2） The law at the second level is criminal law, in violation of which the behavior is "crime" .
The meaning of the criminal policy of " proviso" is that it can narrow the scope of crime or criminal punishment so as not to make some minor dangerous acts （or unlawful acts） for crime, is good for the actor to go straight, and can reasonably allocate judicial resources to concentrate on punishing the serious unlawful act and crime .
