Research On Behaviors Of Escapement From Traffic Accidents

The number of criminal cases caused by escapement from traffic accidents is surging rapidly in recent years, which in particular, gives rise to a frequent casualty that exerts negative impacts on the shaping of a harmonious society and its social orders. Such behaviors not only do harm to the victims'personal and property safety, but also hinder the judicial proceedings of investigation and prosecution. Thus, the 133rd article of the 1997 Criminal Law of P.R. China provides the legal standard to tackle such cases, outlining the punishment from three to seven years of sentence or even above depending on the consequences of the escapement. Moreover, the 2000 Judicial Explanation issued by the Supreme People's Court on Traffic Accident Crimes (hereafter as the Explanation) defines further about the behaviors of escapement. However, imperfections in the above legislation still exist, which led to many disputes in practice. For example, whether or not there is co-criminal in such escapement? And should escapement be separated from traffic accident crimes and given independent judgment? As such, this paper is to look into the behavior of escapement from traffic accidents all over again.The paper consists of four parts as follows:The first part is an overview of behaviors of escapement from traffic accidents, which includes definition and structure. As for the definition, we hereby conclude as"The behaviors committed by those who have caused and are fully aware of the traffic accident in the first place, and neglect the obligation of rescue but seek to escape from the accident for the purpose of avoiding punishment."As for the structure, it entails four elements, namely object, objective aspects, subject and subjective aspects. The main analysis is revolving around the objective aspects, for we deem escapement as negative behaviors, the obligation of which come from the previous behaviors defined explicitly by law. Additionally, the time and space related to the behavior of escapement needs further analysis as well.The second part is about death caused by escapement from traffic accidents. As far as we are concerned, the definition of death given by the 5th article in the Explanation is agreeable. As for the structure analysis, we view the following elements of key importance:"full awareness of the traffic accidents","crime committed before escapement","causal relations between the escapement and the death". And for subjective aspect, no matter how the suspect reacts to the death caused in the accident, we need to take into consideration both the objective and subjective elements from a holistic perspective in order to find the suspect guilty or not. And if we take the consequence (death) separately, it should be considered as an aggravated offence or situation.The third part is about the issue of"co-criminal"and its key elements based on the Explanation. We do not consider it proper to define a"co-criminal"in traffic accident, and the relevant regulation mentioned in the Explanation contradicts with the general principles and jurisprudence of criminal law such as"Innocent until Guilty"and etc. Therefore, suggestions for revision are given– to abolish the regulation of co-criminal in traffic accidents; to enlarge the scope of instigation and to establish separate punishment for escapement behaviors.The fourth part is the overall comment on future legislation improvement with respect to escapement behaviors in traffic accidents. First and foremost, current laws and regulations still need improvement in this regard, for it should not be confined to traffic accidents crimes. Secondly, the necessity for separate punishment leads to a separate crime, i.e. The Crime of Escapement from Traffic Accident. And we should refer to relevant legislations overseas. Thirdly, definition, structure, regulation, punishment of the Escapement Crime is discussed respectively. Last but not least, more suggestions are given regarding specific punishment for establishment, such as permanent suspension of driving license, implementation of indemnity and so on.