Joint punishment helps electric fraud control to advance in depth.
□ Liu Weijun
Since December 1st, the Measures for Joint Punishment of Telecommunication Network Fraud and Related Crimes (hereinafter referred to as the Measures) issued by the Ministry of Public Security in conjunction with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the People’s Bank of China have been implemented. The Measures make specific provisions on the disciplinary principles, disciplinary objects, disciplinary measures, disciplinary procedures and complaint verification of telecommunication network fraud and its related illegal crimes.
In recent years, telecommunication network fraud has become one of the main types of crimes faced by China and many countries. In this regard, China has continuously intensified its efforts to crack down on telecommunication network fraud and related crimes. Especially after the promulgation of the anti-telecommunication network fraud law, relevant functional departments have taken various comprehensive measures to actively carry out anti-fraud in the whole society, all employees and the whole process, and achieved outstanding results. The number of cases has been declining, and the number of interceptions and the detection rate have been rising. Not long ago, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security launched the fourth batch of eight mega-cross-border telecommunication network fraud cases for joint supervision.
However, due to the cross-border nature of telecommunication network fraud and related crimes, and the support of huge black and gray industries at home and abroad, related crimes are always in a high-level operation state. Therefore, to eradicate telecommunication network fraud and its related illegal crimes, we should not only attack head-on, put out open flames and reduce the stock of crimes, but also take drastic measures to further increase punishment to reduce the increase of crimes.
The promulgation of the "Measures" has provided important support for multi-department collaborative governance of telecommunication network fraud and related illegal crimes. Synergy, first of all, is manifested in the diversification of governance subjects, which requires all departments and institutions responsible for the governance of telecommunication network fraud to do their part to ensure that telecommunication network fraud and its related illegal crimes are intervened, intervened or blocked by corresponding public power at all stages of occurrence, development and fission. Because the crime governance itself is extremely complex, it requires that the supervision should not be absent, but also requires all subjects to strengthen the cohesion and cooperation to ensure that the governance measures support each other and form gains, instead of going their own way, so that the implementation effect will be derogated from each other. Joint punishment is undoubtedly a good solution to the problem of convergence and cooperation.
According to the "Measures", joint punishment first needs to be determined by a criminal referee or by a public security organ at or above the municipal level, and then by sharing information about the joint punishment object, other regulatory authorities will implement financial punishment, telecommunication network punishment and credit punishment respectively according to their functions and powers. These three disciplinary measures work closely together to form a closed-loop supervision and are committed to eliminating the ability and opportunities for recidivism. This kind of "combination boxing" based on information sharing and collaborative supervision of various departments is more effective and lasting in restricting and punishing dishonesty than a single disciplinary measure implemented by a single department.
The "Measures" is an important symbol of the legalization and standardization of disciplinary actions. Supervision cannot be absent, but it cannot be offside. According to media reports, in the practice of anti-fraud, there have been some "extraordinary governance measures" in some places. For example, some provincial and municipal operators once turned off answering overseas calls and receiving overseas SMS services by default; "Threaten" to cancel the household registration of telecom network fraud suspects who are persuaded not to return, and impose restrictions on enrollment and suspension of social security on their families; Small remittances between relatives of residents need to be certified by the police station, and so on. Although some of these measures are not intended to punish, their effects are the same as punishment, and the identification of disciplinary objects is random and disorderly. After such measures were reported by the media, they aroused strong public concern and caused adverse social impact.
The "Measures" clearly define the recognition according to law and excessive punishment as the implementation principles of joint punishment, strictly control the scope of disciplinary objects, and give the final recognition right of atypical disciplinary objects to public security organs at or above the provincial level, which restricts the disciplinary behavior of governance subjects from both substantive and procedural levels. The "Measures" also expressed respect and concern for the basic needs of people’s livelihood, such as allowing disciplinary objects to apply for retaining a phone card that is not involved in the case, and establishing the maximum continuous execution period and the automatic termination system when the punishment expires.
Overall, joint punishment is an integral part of the comprehensive management system of telecommunication network fraud crimes, and the introduction of relevant joint punishment measures will help to fill the gaps in the governance ecology of telecommunication network fraud crimes. Sun Simiao Ceng Yun, the "King of Medicine": "Eliminate the disease that has not started, treat the disease that has not been cured, and treat it before nothing happens." The same is true for the management of telecommunication network fraud and illegal crimes, which should not only cure the disease, but also prevent the disease. Joint punishment of offenders will undoubtedly help to deter potential offenders and make them "afraid to commit" and "unable to commit". Considering that the disciplinary measures stipulated in the Measures will have a great impact on the lives of the parties concerned, it is necessary to be cautious in application and guard against abuse. Therefore, it is necessary to improve relevant relief measures as soon as possible and clarify how to pursue responsibility for wrong disciplinary actions. In other words, the supervision of the joint disciplinary measures itself is also an unavoidable responsibility for the management of telecommunication network fraud and its related illegal crimes.
(The author is a professor at the Investigation College of the People’s Public Security University of China)