Research On The Basic Issues Of Criminalizing Self-money Laundering

The Amendment（XI）to the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China has made significant amendments to Article 191 of the Criminal Law,among which the biggest highlight is to clearly define self-laundering as a crime by deleting typical terms such as "knowing" and "assisting".Reviewing the process of criminalization of self-laundering,it is not only a response to the pressure of international anti-money laundering,but also the due meaning of domestic anti-money laundering crackdown.However,this change also triggered a wide debate in the theoretical community.The criminal law includes the upstream perpetrator as the subject of money laundering crime,which breaks through the traditional theoretical thinking of stolen property crime and is a significant progress in China’s criminal legislation against money laundering.At the same time,this amendment also makes the judicial application of money laundering crime usher in a new challenge.The problem of conviction and sentencing of the upstream perpetrator urgently needs to be solved,and the identification of the responsibility of other money laundering perpetrators has also changed.In view of this,this paper discusses the controversial focus of self-laundering,in order to benefit the law application of money laundering crime under the new situation.The thesis is divided into three chapters.The first Chapter retrospects the incriminating background of self-laundering and clarifies the consideration of adding self-laundering crime in criminal law.First of all,the paper explains the practical troubles caused by the absence of money laundering model crime in the past,including not conducive to the fight against corruption,not fully fulfilling international obligations,not in line with the historical trend of cracking down on money laundering,and then points out the necessity of adding a new model of money laundering crime.Thirdly,it introduces the theoretical debate on the criminalization and non-criminalization of self-laundering,focuses on refuting the theoretical basis proposed by scholars for the decriminalization of self-laundering--the theory of unpunished after-action and the theory of expected possibility,and confirms the theoretical legitimacy of the criminalization of self-laundering.Finally,the article enumerates the provisions of foreign criminal law to provide a mirror for the judicial application of money laundering in China after it becomes a crime independently.The second chapter studies the determination of crime after self-laundering is criminalized.On the one hand,this paper combines with the theory of criminal law doctrine,puts forward the factors that interfere with the independent crime of the upstream original crime of money laundering.This chapter also lists three situations in which the predicate offense cannot be identified,and for each situation,specifies its impact on the incrimination of self-laundering.This paper analyzes the legal interests infringed by various types of upstream crimes and points out that the judicial authorities should adopt differentiated conviction ideas for different self-laundering behaviors.On the other hand,the difference between money laundering crime and traditional stolen property crime is studied.At the same time,it points out the changes of subjective elements of money laundering crime after the legislative revision.The third chapter discusses the punishment of self-laundering and chooses the right path for the sentencing of money laundering.In the first section,combining the theory of crime number and the purpose of criminal legislation,the author further judges whether the upstream crime and the self-laundering model should be punished together with several crimes of money laundering or should be separated from one felony.The second section addresses the identification of accomplices,focusing on the influence of collusion content on identification of accomplices of money laundering crime,and describes how to determine the identity of accomplices of other money launderers and self-launderers under different collusion situations.The third section clarifies the penalty discretion standard of money laundering crime in self-laundering mode and discusses the controversial issues such as whether the penalty of money laundering crime is heavier than the upstream crime.