| On November 14,2019,the Supreme People’s Court issued the "Opinions on Properly Hearing High-altitude Projectiles and Falling Objects"(hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions").The conviction and sentencing of the act were stipulated.Soon thereafter,on December 26,2020,the 24 th meeting of the Standing Committee of the13 th National People’s Congress passed the "Amendment to the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China(11)"(hereinafter referred to as the "Amendment(11)")”),after Article 291 of the Criminal Law,a new article was added as Article 291bis: “Those who throw objects from buildings,concurrently or solely with fines".These two fully reflect the great concern of our country’s legislature and judicial organs on punishing illegal activities of parabolic throwing at heights,and in fact they have been widely praised by the public.However,in practice,the content of the above-mentioned judicial interpretation is vague,and the "Amendment" adopts the legislative model of crimes of circumstances,without explaining the "serious circumstances".Both of these provide only principled guidance for the organs and personnel handling the case.As a result,some case-handling agencies did not fully understand the meaning of "high-altitude","throwing objects","serious circumstances" and the meaning of "dangerous methods"and "public safety" in Article 114 of the Criminal Law.The crime of dangerous methods endangering public safety is still sentenced to this crime,and the behavior of throwing objects at height is generally directly equivalent to the dangerous methods in Article 114.Therefore,the judiciary should uphold the principle of modesty and strictly control the scope of crime.The judicial determination of high-altitude projectile behavior must closely follow the constitutive requirements,and strictly distinguish different types of"high-altitude projectile" behaviors according to specific circumstances to accurately convict and sentence.Only in this way can the crime and punishment be legally prescribed. |
