Penalties to be based on nature of crimes

THE SPECIFIC AMOUNT corrupt officials embezzled or received as bribes may no longer be mentioned in their sentence, says the draft of the ninth amendment to the Criminal Law. Instead, the amount will be referred to as relatively large, huge or extremely huge, if the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, approves the draft. Comments:

Any form of corruption, irrespective of the amount of money involved, is an infringement upon other people's rights and interests. Therefore, to estimate the damage such an infringement has caused, courts at all levels should take into account a wide range of criteria, including the length and social effects of the crime. In the fight against corruption, this is a crucial time, because with more power comes more responsibility.

Beijing News, Aug 27