Coin World Report:
I. Introduction
Recently, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate released the “Criminal Procuratorial Work White Paper (2023)” https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-YAAaoDT6MCb6CZ7Wt01TA, which summarized the criminal procuratorial work nationwide in 2023. It mentioned that the total number of criminal suspects accepted for examination and arrest by the national procuratorial organs in 2023 was 1,209,052, and 726,000 were approved for arrest after examination; the total number of criminal suspects accepted for examination and prosecution was 2,511,263, and 1.688 million were decided to be prosecuted after examination. The trend is on the rise compared to previous years.
According to the Supreme Procuratorate:
In the examination and arrest of cases, theft, fraud, assisting in information network crime (hereinafter referred to as “assisting crime”), concealing and hiding the proceeds of crime, and concealing the proceeds of crime (hereinafter referred to as “concealing crime”), and opening casinos accounted for a total of 48.4%;
In the examination and prosecution of cases, dangerous driving, theft, assisting crime, concealing crime, and fraud accounted for a total of 53.7%.
In other words, in the crime of dangerous driving, some public security organs directly take weak coercive measures such as release on bail pending trial; while in the crime of fraud, the majority of criminal suspects are transferred to the procuratorial organs for examination and arrest. In terms of quantity, dangerous driving has a clear advantage and is “far ahead” in the first place.
We will conduct a big data analysis on the top five charges prosecuted by the procuratorial organs: dangerous driving, theft, assisting crime, concealing crime, fraud, and the fifth one (also a common charge in the cryptocurrency circle) opening casinos in the examination and arrest.
Image source: Supreme Procuratorate Official Account
II. Analysis of Charges
(I) Dangerous Driving
Through the search tool alpha, we found the characteristics of dangerous driving as follows:
In the whole year of 2023, there were 43,439 judgments on dangerous driving made by courts and published online, which is definitely lower than the normal data. The reason behind this is that the current rate of online publication of criminal case judgments is low.
In terms of regional distribution, Henan, Guangdong, Inner Mongolia, and other regions have a larger number of cases. The most common factor in dangerous driving crimes is drunk driving. From this, we can also see that although the country has been cracking down on drunk driving for more than a decade, and even “drinking without driving, driving without drinking” has become a common saying at the dining table, there are still a large number of people who are willing to take the risk. This also requires us to re-understand the relevant concepts in criminology. Crime is a social phenomenon, and it is impossible to eradicate it by simply enacting a certain regulation. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain the well-known saying “kill one to warn a hundred” that even children know. However, many people are still willing to take the risk and violate criminal law.
(II) Theft
In 2023, a total of 14,256 theft cases were judged and publicly published by courts nationwide, which is certainly much lower than the actual number (even multiplying by 10 is not excessive). Looking at the publicly available data, there is an upward trend in monthly distribution, and Shanghai, Guangdong, and Henan are the top three in terms of regional distribution.
Through the search, Liu found that there are 4 cases related to Bitcoin in theft, but upon closer inspection, it is not because the parties stole Bitcoin that the cases occurred. Interestingly, one judgment was actually due to the theft of electricity for mining, resulting in a conviction for theft.
However, in reality, a part of the numerous consultations our team receives every week is about their own virtual currency being stolen. Through our services, some parties have indeed successfully filed cases with the public security organs. With the rise in the market value of Bitcoin, the number of virtual currency theft cases is bound to continue to increase. Liu also reminds friends to choose reliable wallets to store their virtual currency.
(III) Assisting Crime
The crime of assisting crime has been widely used by judicial organs since 2018, almost in sync with the “cut-off card operation” because the threshold for this crime is low (corresponding to the low difficulty for judicial organs to prove guilt), and the maximum sentence is only 3 years. In a sense, it “encourages” defense lawyers not to put too much effort into defense—after all, breakthrough defense results such as acquittal or downgrading of penalties are difficult to achieve. Of course, there are still many diligent defense lawyers in reality.
From the data analysis, there were only 10,128 judgments on the crime of assisting crime published online by courts in 2023, which is completely out of touch with reality. The main reason is the decreased enthusiasm of courts to actively publish judgments. In terms of regional distribution, Shanghai, Hunan, and Henan courts published the most judgments.
The relationship between the crime of assisting crime and the cryptocurrency circle mainly involves OTC transactions on U, the use of virtual currency for team running, etc. This is also what Liu has been calling for—that cryptocurrency novices should never lend their bank cards, phone cards, ID cards, and other information to others for a small profit, or help others register or transfer funds for virtual currency wallets and exchanges. Once it involves stolen money or dirty U, it is likely to be charged with assisting crime.
(IV) Concealing Crime
Concealing crime can be understood as an “upgraded version” of assisting crime. One is that the burden of proof for concealing crime is stricter than assisting crime, and the other is that the maximum sentence for concealing crime is significantly higher than assisting crime. Concealing crime has been relatively stable among the more than 480 criminal charges in the Criminal Law, and even showed a slight downward trend in recent years (with only over 6,000 judgments published by courts in 2023). However, in the context of the “cut-off card operation,” its volume will not be small, after all, it can still rank fourth in the number of charges prosecuted by the national procuratorial organs. Its “strength should not be underestimated.”
The relationship between the crime of concealing crime and the cryptocurrency circle is not much different from the crime of assisting crime. The difference is that in addition to providing help in payment settlement for other crimes, the crime of concealing crime also provides help in transfer, face-scanning cash withdrawal, on-site cash withdrawal, etc.
(V) Fraud
Fraud is considered a serious crime in the field of property crimes. According to current standards, once the amount of fraud exceeds 500,000 yuan, the minimum sentence is 10 years of imprisonment. Especially in the cryptocurrency circle, where projects worth millions or tens of millions are everywhere, once being identified as fraud by judicial authorities, the consequences are naturally not optimistic.
From the data analysis, there were a total of 4,696 cases of fraud published online by courts nationwide in 2023, which is definitely much lower than the actual number of cases. In terms of regional distribution, Shanghai, Henan, and Liaoning ranked in the top three.
(VI) Opening Casinos
Although the crime of opening casinos is not among the top five charges prosecuted by the procuratorial organs, it is among the top five charges transferred by the public security organs to the procuratorial organs for approval of arrest. The traditional offline small-scale chess and card rooms and even large-scale casinos like the New Lisboa are definitely old-time; even online casinos in web2, even with many “beautiful dealers dealing cards online,” are gradually being covered by the halo of web3, especially with the continuous strengthening of public consensus on virtual currencies. However, crime is crime. Once the parties involved are subject to judicial criminal liability, it is difficult to avoid legal risks fundamentally, especially when it comes to casinos involving funds from telecommunications fraud targeting Chinese mainlanders or money laundering of victims who are Chinese nationals. It is really possible to be “punished even if far away.”
From the data retrieved by Liu, there were only 2,839 judgments on the crime of opening casinos published online by courts nationwide in 2023, and they were concentrated in Shanghai, Henan, Hubei, and other places.
III. Conclusion
“May all people in the world be free from illness, why not let the medicine gather dust on the shelf” is the wish of a good doctor, “A world without thieves” is the wish of a great director, and I believe “A world without crimes” is the sincere wish of legal professionals including lawyers and judicial personnel. Even Liu can make up a sentence “May all people in the world be free from crimes, why let the prison window rust.” However, from the data of the Supreme Procuratorate in 2023, this wish is difficult to achieve, and the workload of the public security, procuratorial, and judicial organs has only increased. As a criminal defense lawyer, Lawyer Liu hopes that every case can be treated fairly and justly, and every party should be held accountable within the legal framework, even if guilty. This is also the purpose of the existence of lawyers, which, to a certain extent, can prevent judicial organs from making mistakes.
Another point I would like to mention is that from the data retrieved by Liu, several charges are “leading” in Shanghai and Henan, which happens to be related to me—whether it is now or in the past. This does not prove anything other than indicating that the transparency of justice in these two places is relatively better, but it does not prove anything else.
