Prevention of Breaking-Law

By  Chen Huilin   May 27,2005

 （This is an academic conference speech script

 for Doctor's course "English for International Academic Conferences " .)

Good morning, Everyone! Now I want to talk the topic about prevention of breaking-law.

Like what we know, the content of ruling of law includes 4 parts: legislating, justice, enforcing law and observing-law. Observing-law is the most important among them. If everybody did not break the law, ruling of law would realize.  Now I’m going to introduce briefly the theory about prevention of breaking-law.

Ⅰ.Two kinds of views

About how to prevent people from breaking laws, there are many kinds of views. The most typical is the following two kinds.

1．Chinese traditional view was that the most basic measure was strengthening moral education to people.

The ancient Chinese official school was the Confucian school. Confucianism though that man's natural instinct is kind. The main reason why people break law is that their morality becomes evil. So the effective method of preventing people from breaking law is strengthening moral  education to them. They even thought that for preventing breaking law, moral education can replace legal penalty, and the final means that can make the breaking law wither away is the moral education. Confucius said，“Moral education makes people do the good deed without doing the bad thing unconsciously every day.”①“The relation between superiors (gentlemen) and inferiors (villains) is like that between the wind and the grass. When the wind blows across the grass, the grass must bend.”②“If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame.If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good.”③Now the Advanced Educational Activities of Party member of the Communist Party of China are also taking this kind of thinking as basis. This is the theory of ruling of virtue.

2．One of the Western views is to advocate making the cost of the illegal activities increase.

From Bentham in the 18th century to contemporary Posner, many Western jurists thought that man's natural instinct is evil. Everyone is “Rational Man” or “Economic Man”,  It determines people’s behavior to go after advantages and advoid disadvantages. The main reason why people break law is that they overestimate the expectancy (anticipated) profit that the illegal activities may bring. So the most effective method of preventing the illegal activities is to aggravate legal punishment, namely increase the illegal cost. For example, as someone realize that his cost of robbing besides returning the property robbed, also losing his own head or all life’s freedom, he will give up the robing. Otherwise, he may be glad to try. They think that the cost besides the social loss cost in the economic meaning what the illegal activities cause, still includes the extra punishment cost in the legal meaning. This is  the theory of ruling of law.

Ⅱ. Simple  Comment

1．The view of the Confucianists was ahead of the time.

Preventing the illegal activities is only forbiding people to break the law, but not making people do good deed, so the view of the Confucianists was ahead of the time.

2．The Western method of ruling of law is more effective.

It’s unable to be totally verified yet now that man's natural instinct is kind or evil. But according to reality, there are more evil compositions in man's natural instinct. So, we think in various kinds measures of preventing illegal activities, the Western method of ruling of law is more effective. At least the realistic performance is like this.

There are many reasons why the rate of breaking-law and crime rises in our country now, one of the important reasons is that the illegal cost is not high enough. For example, labour law stipulates that establishing the relation of  working must sign labour contract, but now employing unit of refusing signing labour contract accounts for 30%. Why? because the legal punishment to this kind of illegal activities is just that the law-breaker is ordered to correct his illegal activities, and in case of doing harm to labourer, compensate the labourer for losses. Here almost there is no extra punishment cost in a really legal meaning.

In addition, why stealing the bicycle become the social effects of harm? Because it does’n need to bear criminal responsibility to steal an ordinary bicycle. Current criminal law stipulates that only the value of being stolen property has reached 500 yuan, the behavior of stealing may commit the larceny.

Conclusion

To sum up, we think that to prevent people from breaking laws, making the illegal cost  increase is more effective measure than strengthening moral education.

The above is all I want to speak today.

Thank you very much!