On The "Other Dangerous Means" Prescribed In The Crime Of Endangering Public Security By Dangerous Means

In recent years, a series of famous criminal lawsuits, such as such as Chengdu City v. Sun Weiming, Foshan City v. Li Jingquan, Hangzhou City v. Hu Bin, Chengdu City v. Wang Wei, et al, etc., have led the legal circles to focus on the Crime of Endangering Public Security by Dangerous Means to which the public did not attach much importance. Although the latest Amendment VIII of Penal Code of People’s Republic of China has already made the drunk driving a new and independence kind of crime, it seems that the codification does not provide more help or guideline for us to solve the related drunk driving cases. For instance, as to the drunk driving cases having similar facts, some of them were recognized as the Crime of Causing Traffic Casualties, but the others were judged as the Crime of Endangering Public Security by Dangerous Means by the different courts, even by the same court. The variant application of the law not only puzzles the inexperienced public without legal training and systematical knowledge, but also arouses hot debate on the real meaning of the Crime of Endangering Public Security by Dangerous Means among the jurists and the practicians. Finally, all those debates lead us to an ultimate question:What are the detailed elements of Actus Reus of the Crime of Endangering Public Security by Dangerous Means, in other words, how to identify the "other dangerous means" prescribed in the Penal Code and its Amendment.Totally this article includes the following three parts. Part I is the overview of the problems mentioned above. The example cases will reflect the recent history of the basic situation and the judicial dilemma when applying the law of Crime of Endangering Public Security by Dangerous Means. Then the problems and different viewpoints basing on the debates of "other dangerous means" will also be recapitulated in this part, and the recapitulation gives rise to the analysis of the question "How to cognize the other dangerous means in a criminal case". The second part talks about the prerequisite. It provides the basis for the definition of the "other dangerous means" through the explanation of the legal rights protected-the public security. This part includes two subparts:the meaning of "public" and that of "security". Compared with the same and similar characteristics generally existed in the dangerous means such as committing arson, breaching a dike, causing explosion, and spreading poison, the last but most important part gives a detailed definition of the "other dangerous means", and then talks about the conditions and ranges of the application of "other dangerous means".The main viewpoint of this article is that the essence of the "other dangerous means" should be the high possibility of inflicting serious injury or death on people. It includes two aspects. Firstly, the "other dangerous means" may cause serious injury or death on a huge number of people. Dangerous acts only causing serious injury or death on some, or few people, or causing mental panic or slight illegal results, should not be recognized as the "other dangerous means". That is determined by the basic characteristics of committing arson, breaching a dike, causing explosion, and spreading poison, and the status of the Crime of Endangering Public Security by Dangerous Means within the Penal Code of People’s Republic of China. Secondly, the possibility of the illegal result caused by the "other dangerous means" is adequately high. That is another prerequisite for manifesting the essence of the "other dangerous means". And as to the application of the "other dangerous means", the viewpoint of this article is to apply it prudently and reasonably, rather than to expand its range unnecessarily. Even if the dangerous acts have caused the harms to the public security, the questions whether it can fulfill all the elements of cause of action prescribed by the Crime of Endangering Public Security by Dangerous Means, and whether the application is proportional should also be considered.The importance of the researches in this article is that:Posing the questions basing on the result of the empirical researches that currently the disproportional application of the Crime of Endangering Public Security by Dangerous Means is more and more popular within the legal circles, and then providing references and advises to the jurists and the practicians by defining the "other dangerous means" and characterizing the range and condition of its application via analyzing the legal rights protected-the public security, and abstracting the common characteristics of "other dangerous means" and committing arson, breaching a dike, causing explosion, and spreading poison.