Research On Several Issues Of The Crime Of Serious Liability Accident

The occurrence of major accidents often involves severe casualties and economic losses.In 1979,when China’s Criminal Law was promulgated,the crime of major accidents was added,which largely filled the gap in criminal charges in the field of production.However,in the judicial application of the crime of major accidents,there are issues that need to be further resolved in terms of the determination of legal causality,the application of criminal charges,and the application of penalties.In determining legal causality,we should break away from the traditional causality theory and apply the objective attribution theory,determining the legal causality based on whether the actor’s behavior and outcome meet the constitutive elements of objective attribution.In terms of the application of criminal charges,the competing charges rule should be reasonably applied.The crime of major accidents,as a professional negligence crime,is in competition with ordinary negligence crimes.Applying the heavier penalty in the application of criminal charges does not violate the principle of special law priority or the principle of legality in criminal law.In practice,a large number of accidents are not caused by the negligence of the responsible person,but rather by the disregard of accident risks.When the responsible person indirectly causes a major accident intentionally,they should be punished for intentional crimes,but it is important to avoid convicting them with a catch-all charge.Instead,an analysis should be conducted to determine if the behavior of the responsible person meets the constitutive elements of the crime of endangering public safety by dangerous means.If not,they should be convicted of intentional homicide,intentional injury causing serious injury,or other crimes.In terms of penalty application,it is necessary to avoid a mismatch between the serious damage caused by the actor and the penalties applied.The sentencing range for the crime of major accidents should be further divided,taking the median value of five years as the starting point for cases with more severe casualties and economic losses in cases of particularly heinous circumstances.It is essential to put an end to the inconsistency in judicial standards among local courts when handling cases and to achieve consistency in sentencing for cases with similar consequences.