Study On Crime Motive Under Criminal Jurisprudence

Motive is a kind of psychological need, while crime motive is the inner cause of external crimes. They have intrinsic unity with the former for common cases and the later for special ones. Crime motive is featured by motivation and hiding, based on subjective value judgment, and functions to affect behavior nature as well as conviction sentencing. Substantially, the scope of crime motive is controversial, as there is not necessarily a crime motive in each crime, because such motive only exists in a direct and calculated one. Criminal intent, criminal determination and crime motive influence each other; and the former two can be converted into crime motive. Crime motive is closely related to the purpose of a crime, while the criminal purpose is the expected harmful consequence of an actor; there are differences between them in terms of concept, forming time, corresponding relation, degree of consciousness and functions performed, however they are particularly similar in terms of emergence, functions performed and the interaction. For conviction sentencing, crime motive in the criminal code of Germany and Italy is clearly of influence, while it is only influential in the judicial practice in Anglo-American countries. In China, concerns are mainly focused on whether it affects conviction sentencing, where the system theory insists that although crime motive does not belong to the subjective constitutive requirements of crime constitution, it may influence conviction sentencing as a selective constitutive requirement. Defense motive and safety motive of self-defense and urgent danger prevention shall not be taken as a crime motive although there is the possibility of transformation among them. In the specific provisions of criminal law, the status of criminal motive in a criminal law is particularly showed through such crimes as retaliation, favoritism and circumstance crimes, directly affecting the crime constitution. For the relation between crime motive and sentencing, in some foreign countries such motive is taken as legal sentencing circumstance, such as Germany and Russia. Such relation is theoretically based on the principle of suiting responsibility and punishment to crime and the severity of subjective malignance. When criminal penalty is applied to a particular circumstance, there are two different directions, namely, such circumstance shall be taken as aggravating one or attenuating circumstance instead, which are determined by the crime motive. The subjective malignance of crime motive in recidivism is normally more serious than that in a first offense. In judicial practice, applicable penalty can be confirmed according to the circumstances before or after a crime, with the crime motive significantly affecting the sentencing, for example, the sentence for Guangzhou Xuting case is different from that of Huiyang Yu Deshui case. Crime motive in the legislation of China is defective; therefore, it is suggested that crime motive shall be determined in criminal law as legal sentencing circumstance.