China Legal Science 2025年第1期 | 中国式犯罪治理现代化的学理阐释及实践向度
学术
2025-01-20 12:02
北京
THEORETICAL INTERPRETATION AND PRACTICAL DIMENSION OF THE CHINESE PATH TO CRIME GOVERNANCE MODERNIZATION Zhao Zubin In the more than 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, crime governance has provided a strong support for developing various social programs. ‘Since the reform and opening up, crime and its governance have always been an important issue of concern to the country and all sectors of society. Therefore, how to effectively punish, control and prevent crimes, and promote the modernization of crime governance system and governance capacity has become an important theoretical and practical topic.’ For the first time, the Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC systematically expounds on the Chinese path to modernization. The Chinese path to crime governance modernization is the natural extension and indispensable requirement of the Chinese path to modernization. During the period in which the time frames of the Two Centenary Goals converge, and faced with the profound changes unseen in a century, it is necessary to build on past successes to further advance our cause. This entails adapting to the times and responding to the people’s ardent expectations. This also involves addressing emerging issues in crime governance, innovating governance methods, and exploring governance path, so as to provide solid support for sustained and healthy economic development and social stability. It further encompasses the realization of common prosperity, the pursuit of great success in socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Based on the Chinese path to modernization, this paper expounds on crime governance modernization from five aspects: fundamental connotations, background and significance, the overall plan, value orientation, and practical approaches. Ⅰ. THE FUNDAMENTAL CONNOTATIONS OF THE CHINESE PATH TO CRIME GOVERNANCE MODERNIZATION Summarizing the crime governance modernization with Chinese characteristics as the Chinese path to crime governance modernization is a highly theoretical refinement that follows the independent characteristics at home and takes into account the universal characteristics abroad. The Chinese path to crime governance is a pattern and process in which crime governance is based on the Chinese context, tends to be scientific and rational, and becomes a paradigm with Chinese characteristics. A. Crime Governance in the Context ofthe Chinese Path to Modernization The Chinese path to modernization is a process of transformation from ‘China’s modernization’ to the ‘Chinese path to modernization’, which has to go through the process of continuous change and development, from long-term accumulation of quantitative change to qualitative change, thus achieving the transcendence from universality to particularity and then to individuality. The Chinese path to crime governance modernization is the Chinese path to modernization in the field of crime governance. The inherent requirement is that only through the modernization of crime governance itself can the Chinese path to crime governance modernization be promoted. Crime governance should be rooted in the whole area and the whole process of the Chinese path to modernization. Crime governance modernization itself is an inherent regulatory requirement for the Chinese path to crime governance modernization. Modernization — crime governance modernization — Chinese path to crime governance modernization has an intrinsically coherent logical connection. The development of modernization to a certain stage will inevitably bring about social problems closely related to crime. The modernization process will promote technological innovation, conceptual change, and institutional renewal, while bringing about difficult governance problems. It will also provide opportunities for the development and optimization of crime governance, thereby leading to crime governance modernization. Modernization, as opposed to backwardness, obsolescence, and decadence, represents development, advancement, and civilization. It is a ‘man-made, purposeful and opportunistic process of social change’. The Chinese path to crime governance modernization is an overall transformation of crime governance to adapt to the process of the Chinese path to modernization. Crime governance plays a valuable role in the whole area and the whole process of Chinese path to the modernization. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has expanded the connotation of the Chinese path to modernization. The proposal of the ‘five-sphere integrated plan’, ‘five major civilizations’, ‘four-pronged comprehensive strategy’, and ‘whole-processpeople’s democracy’ has profoundly interpreted the Chinese path to modernization as modernization in all fields, in all aspects, and through the whole process, and has also put forward ‘the modernization of China’s system and capacity for governance’ and that ‘the essence of modernization is the modernization of human beings’. In particular, the Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC specifically discusses how to realize the Chinese path to national security modernization in the section of ‘Modernizing China’s National Security System and Capacity and Safeguarding National Security and Social Stability’, which clearly states that ‘We will take a holistic approach to ensuring law and order, we will consistently combat and root out organized crime, and we will lawfully crack down on various illegal and criminal activities that cause grave public concern.’ This incorporates crime governance modernization into the grand blueprint of the Chinese path to modernization. B. The Chinese Path to Crime Governance ModernizationRooted in the Chinese Context The Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC states: ‘Chinese modernization is socialist modernization pursued under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. It contains elements that are common to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is more characterized by features that are unique to the Chinese context.’ The Chinese path to crime governance modernization contains common features of crime governance modernization in various countries or regions, as well as Chinese characteristics rooted in national conditions. The crime governance modernization shows obvious local characteristics, and each country or region gives crime governance modernization unique characteristics based on its specific situation. The Chinese path to crime governance modernization is relative to the Western crime governance modernization. It emphasizes that the Chinese path to crime governance modernization is localized and shaped based on China’s national conditions. The Chinese path to crime governance modernization is rooted in the Chinese context, historical inheritance, and cultural traditions, which are fundamental to the Chinese path to crime governance modernization as a relatively independent system. ‘The problem of crime is a social phenomenon and an individual act. As such, it is not static, much less isolated, and it evolves with the political and economic development of a country.’ The Chinese path to crime governance modernization shall adhere to the socialist system with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the CPC and promote the transformation and upgrading of crime governance in accordance with changes in national conditions. ‘The modernization realized by the Chinese people on the land of China is bound to have the characteristics of the Chinese nation. China’s modernization is a modernization based on China’s socialist system, which is different from the modernization of capitalism, and is bound to have the essential characteristics of socialism … Socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics is, on the surface, a subjective choice of the Chinese people, yet behind this subjective choice lies the reality of China and its inevitability, which is a logical expansion and logical conclusion of the reality of China and its inevitability.’ The Chinese path to crime governance modernization must be based on the national conditions and the practice of crime governance faced by the Chinese path to modernization, which entails ‘ensuring and promoting social fairness and justice, enabling the people to enjoy benefits of development, promoting the coordinated development of material and cultural-ethnical civilization, promoting ecological environment protection under the rule of law, promoting the implementation of ecological civilization, coordinating internal and external factors and staying on the path of peaceful development, and constructing international good governance for maintaining and safeguarding peaceful development’. These national conditions have fully shaped the ‘Chinese’ connotation of crime governance modernization, making the Chinese path to crime governance modernization truly compatible and special. C. The Chinese Path to Crime Governance ModernizationServing as a Model In order to analyze the Chinese path to crime governance modernization, it is necessary to clarify its difference with crime governance modernization in China. Semantically, the latter refers to crime governance modernization achieved in the territory of China; while the former is a model, paradigm, or exemplar rooted in the Chinese context, which other countries or regions can take as reference. This is epitomized in the ‘model’ of ‘Chinese model’. The linguistic forms of ‘model’ include nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. The ‘model’ of the ‘Chinese model of crime governance modernization’ can be understood as a noun attribute of the guideline and example, as well as a verb attribute of demonstration and serving as an example. Regarding the lexical meaning of the noun attribute ‘model’, the Chinese model of crime governance modernization refers to crime governance modernization that reflects a Chinese pattern and forms a Chinese model. ‘Since the reform and opening up, the development of the Chinese model of modernization in the past few decades has increasingly presented a modernization pattern with Chinese characteristics. This pattern represents the overall state of the country, society, and human beings formed by history, with its inherent stipulation being the Chinese model of modernization.’ The definition of ‘model’ has the following two orientations. Firstly, it is an abstract generalization of the essential attributes of things or characteristics of behaviors, which shows the difference and connection with other things or behaviors. Secondly, it is a model and template for thinking and practice with a standard form that others can imitate. The Chinese model of crime governance modernization is an overall summary of crime governance modernization in China. It is a model worth learning and referencing, and has created a new pattern and paradigm for global crime governance modernization. This paradigm ‘rejects the fetishization of universalism over abstract universal principles and overcomes the parochialism and spontaneity of particularism’. Regarding the lexical meaning of the verb attribute ‘model’, the Chinese model of crime governance modernization means that China’s crime governance modernization plays a leading and exemplary role as a model. ‘The creation of the Chinese model of socialist modernization is precisely the unique contribution that the Chinese nation has made to the history of the world with its own individual characteristics and national style.’ The Chinese path to crime governance modernization is a new generalization and summary of the course of crime governance modernization in a country with a population of more than 1.4 billion people. It marks the transcendence of Western crime governance modernization, and independently exerts significant influence on global crime governance modernization through its impressive practice. Thus, while enriching the spectrum of crime governance modernization worldwide, the Chinese characteristics and experience embodied in it are of high universal demonstrative value, not only providing a useful reference for crime governance modernization to other countries or regions, but also offering Chinese wisdom and solutions for crime governance modernization for all mankind. Ⅱ. THE BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE OFTHE CHINESE PATH TO CRIME GOVERNANCE MODERNIZATION The Chinese path to crime governance modernization is a proposition of the times with deep logical origins. It takes the Peaceful China Initiative as a strategic logic, runs through the historical process of modernizing national and social governance, and demonstrates the distinctive features of the Chinese path to modernization. A. An Important Support for the Peaceful China Initiative The Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC states: ‘We will advance the Peaceful China Initiative to a higher level. With this new security architecture, we will be able to better safeguard China’s new pattern of development.’ Peaceful China is a wide-ranging, multidimensional, and all-encompassing ‘peace’. The Peaceful China Initiative means eliminating all dangerous factors that may undermine national security and achieving harmony at the objective level, in which justice is upheld, fairness is realized, contradictions are resolved, and conflicts are reconciled. At the subjective level, it means achieving a state of relaxation, tranquility, and freedom, in which people are free from hazards to their bodies, property, psychology, and environment, among others. Crime is a major factor affecting the Peaceful China Initiative. Contemporary crime governance, which has been continuously adjusted in response to the changes of the times, still faces problems such as biased values, serious path dependence, and outdated methodological structures. Crime governance modernization must be grounded in the Peaceful China Initiative and interpreted in the context of a larger narrative. There is a deep interactive and transformative relationship between the crime governance and the Peaceful China Initiative. As a strategy, the Peaceful China Initiative is a destination for action. Transforming it into reality means transferring the value appeal from the decision-making level to the implementation level, highlighting the unique significance of crime governance modernization. Firstly, it provides institutional guarantees for the Peaceful China Initiative. Crime governance modernization ensures a complete system of crime prevention and control, effectively controlling threats in all areas. This fosters national stability, social order, and the well-being of the people, aligning with the goals of the Peaceful China Initiative. These goals include securing the country’s political system, maintaining stable social order, realizing fairness and justice, and enabling the people to live and work in peace and contentment. Secondly, it continues to support the Peaceful China Initiative. Crime governance will form a comprehensive security framework as the focus and direction of action. This will promote the active participation of multiple subjects in ensuring security. These functions will transition from dispersion to integration. The institutional mechanism is transforming from complanation to a three-dimensional systematization, which is in line with the requirements of the Peaceful China Initiative. Security governance has shifted from ‘competent’ to ‘dominant’, and the security system has shifted from ‘decentralized’ to ‘integrated’. Security actions have shifted from ‘vertical’ control to ‘planar’ linkage, and security actors have shifted from the commitment of ‘one country’ to ‘multinational’ co-governance. B. The Integrated Part of the Overall National Governance Strategy The overall strategy for national governance is a holistic and systematic overall layout based on national conditions and a profound grasp of the pulse of world development, and is formulated in accordance with the basic laws of national governance and on the basis of meeting the fundamental aspirations of the people of the country. The core of this lies in ‘adhering to institutional advantages, optimizing the layout of economic, political, cultural, social, ecological and Party-building fields, forming a closely interconnected, coordinated and interactive institutional system as a whole, and maximizing the ability to effectively apply the system through a diversified and strategic approach, thereby contributing to the attainment of the goals of governance’. The Chinese path to crime governance modernization is integral to the overall national governance strategy. The Chinese path to modernization requires modernization in various fields, and crime governance is the link to advance modernization in all fields. National governance is the basis for crime governance, and the nation’s modernization determines crime governance modernization. Crime governance modernization cannot be equated with national governance modernization, but is a concrete manifestation of national governance modernization. Crime governance modernization is an adaptation to national governance modernization. The national governance system is richly layered and extensive, covering various fields such as politics, economy, culture, society, ecological civilization, national defense and military, and Party building. The governance of these fields has a bearing on long-term political stability, social stability, and the safety of people’s lives and property. Criminal activities are among the most intense and obvious destabilizing factors threatening security in these aspects. Crime governance has traditionally been a criminal justice activity and an important part of national governance. In strengthening crime governance, the enhancement of political, economic and cultural aspects and the eradication of the soil for the existence of criminal activities are all in line with the modernized national governance system. The transformation and upgrade of crime governance to adapt to the modernization process means deeply reshaping the concepts of value, institutional system, and logic of action to meet the modernization requirements of national governance. Crime governance modernization is a vivid practice of national governance modernization. On the one hand, crime governance modernization examines the scientific, rational, and effective nature of crime prevention and control from the perspective of national governance modernization. It bears the imprint of implementing the strategy of national governance modernization. On the other hand, crime governance modernization relies on the strong support provided by national governance modernization. Crime governance must respond to the needs of national development and must be carried out within the framework of national governance, which fundamentally defines the form of crime governance. The form of crime governance in the sense of modernization breaks away from the traditional state-led crime control model and attempts to seek diversified public-private cooperation to deal with the high crime rates. This is a vivid practice of the national governance modernization that combines single and systemic governance. C. The Integrated Part of the Social Governance Layout The Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC states: ‘We have further improved the social governance system based on collaboration, participation, and shared benefits. We have effectively contained ethnic separatists, religious extremists, and violent terrorists and secured important progress in the campaigns to combat and root out organized crime. We have responded effectively to major natural disasters. The Peaceful China Initiative has entered a new stage.’ Improving the social governance system and enhancing its capacity are major tasks rooted in the strategic height of resolutely safeguarding national security and social stability. Crime governance is an important element of social governance, and its modernization is integral to the promotion and optimization of the social governance layout. Crime governance modernization is a response to social governance. ‘Crime is rooted in human society and is not unique to a particular stage of society, nor can it be eliminated; the fact that crime arises in society indicates that the solution of social problems is fundamental to responding to crime.’ After the transformation of society, original values have changed; the structure of social relations has been reshaped; traditional ethical norms have gradually been replaced; and the flow of people has increased. On the one hand, these prominent contradictions have stimulated crimes. On the other hand, the weakening of social functions has led to the decline of crime control. Crime is a ‘sickness’ resulting from the inadequacy of social governance. Social governance influences crime governance modernization, with the former not only serving as a benchmark for the latter, but also significantly driving the latter forward. It supports crime prevention and control, and conforms to changes in crime situations. Crime governance modernization must be based on social governance and promoted within its scope. Crime governance modernization is an important carrier for social governance modernization. Crime is ultimately a social problem. ‘Social problems have their generative logic, and the society itself cannot be separated from responding to crime. The limitations of state power determine its limitations in solving social problems, and the society can make up for the lack of state capacity.’ As a part of social governance, crime governance modernization can promote the innovation and development of social governance in a more specific way. Viewing the issue of crime governance from the perspective of social governance means eliminating the social problems that may trigger crime. Solving these social problems is a necessary measure for social governance and an important means of crime governance. In terms of crime and social governance, the approaches are synchronized, and the ends and means are matched. Therefore, crime governance modernization is not only a process that advances social governance modernization, but also a process that fosters crime governance modernization itself. Ⅲ. THE VALUE ORIENTATION OF THE CHINESE PATH TOCRIME GOVERNANCE MODERNIZATION Unlike the Western crime governance modernization, the Chinese path to crime governance modernization follows a unique value orientation in line with Chinese modernization and presents innovative features. Acting on thepeople-centered philosophy, upholding fairness and justice, coordinating security and development, and tempering justice with mercy are central to the unremitting pursuit of Chinese crime governance modernization. These principles are the characteristics of this approach and an important yardstick for judgment. A. Taking the People-Centeredness asthe Starting Point of Crime Governance The essence of Chinese modernization is the modernization of the people. The fundamental difference between the Chinese path to modernization and the Western modernization is that the former is not capital-oriented, but people-oriented modernization, which puts the people first and at the center. It is the most important subjective feature and value point. Crime governance is a part of the great practice of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. It is necessary to maintain the people’s principal position, follow the principle of ‘acting for the people’, determine the strength of ‘relying on the people’, broaden and expand the value dimension of ‘being beneficial to the people’, and strengthen the institutional safeguards of human rights in the context of ‘protecting the people’. ‘Acting for the people’ shall ensure that the interests of the people be upheld as the fundamental purpose of crime governance. An important benchmark and yardstick for crime governance modernization is whether the free and comprehensive development of human beings has been achieved, and whether human rights are respected and safeguarded. To truly achieve crime governance modernization, the relationship between combating crime and safeguarding human rights must be handled properly while cracking down on illegal and criminal activities, with safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of citizens as the fundamental value orientation. ‘Relying on the people’ requires the specialized institutions and the people to jointly participate in crime governance. Relying on the people is the fundamental guideline for all work of the Party and the country. The only way to promote scientific and rational crime governance is to rely on the people to govern crimes and broaden the path for the people’s running of the country. The people shall judge whether crime governance is effective and has effectively guaranteed the safety of people’s property and national security. ‘Being beneficial to the people’ enables the public to share the fruits of crime governance. Crime governance has multiple value effects. The most intuitive effect is directly punishing criminals, comforting victims, and repairing damaged social order. Furthermore, preventing and cracking down on crimes can ensure the long-term peace and stability of the country and the society, and the well-being of the people. This will also promote continuous breakthroughs in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. At a deeper level, in order to control crime, we must vigorously develop the economy to achieve common prosperity, increase investment in education to promote the well-rounded development of the people, encourage entrepreneurship and employment to ensure equal opportunities, and reform the social welfare system to eliminate imbalances. These will ensure people’s rights to safety, education, development, employment, and social security. In order to ‘protect the people’, the institutional safeguards for human rights should be strengthened in the process of crime governance. We must establish and improve the mechanisms and systems for the effective implementation of people-centered approach, which has a value-guiding role in realizing the rights of the people. In the formulation of laws and regulations that involve the people’s immediate interests, opinions should be widely consulted. During implementation, these laws must abide by the criminal rule of law principles such as the principle of legality, equality before the law, and proportionality in punishment. The legal system should constrain public power to guarantee the people’s enjoyment of their rights, prevent the abuse of power, and avoid unwarranted interventions in economic disputes and other infringements on lawful rights and interests. B. Taking Justice as the Bottom Line of Crime Governance One of the five characteristics of Chinese modernization is the modernization of material and cultural-ethical advancement. ‘The people are not only demanding a higher level of material life but also putting forth due demands for other dimensions, such as democracy, the rule of law, fairness, justice, security, and environment, etc.’ The Chinese path to crime governance modernization needs to coordinate material and cultural-ethical advancement and respond to the public’s need for cultural-ethical civilization. If crime governance ignores justice, the orthodoxy of crime governance cannot be guaranteed in the first place. The Chinese crime governance modernization must take fairness and justice as the value goal, fuel the Chinese path to modernization, and build a society full of justice to gain the people’s recognition for the country and crime governance. On the one hand, crime is a violation of justice. On the other hand, it is, to some extent, closely related to the insufficient realization of justice. Justice can be regarded as ‘the reasonable possession and fair distribution of social resources’. Although crime results from internal and external factors, as a social phenomenon, it is closely related to the distribution of social resources and the amount of resources occupied by individuals. Unlike capitalist modernization, the Chinese path to modernization strives to achieve high-quality development and common prosperity for all through the construction of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan that promotes coordinated progress in the economic, political, cultural, social and eco-environmental fields. It contains the value orientation of promoting justice. Marx once said: ‘When the proletarians are so poor that they cannot satisfy the most urgent needs for life, so poor that they have to beg for food and starve, the tendency to disregard all social order grows more and more.’ Crime governance must fairly distribute social resources, and eliminate material incentives for crime. Justice also means the reasonable allocation of rights and obligations. Aristotle believed that justice can only be manifested in an equal order, while Rawls believed that justice is the yardstick for evaluating whether social quotas are fair, allocating rights and obligations, and dividing conflicting interests. Crime governance is the restoration of order and the pursuit of fairness and justice. The Chinese crime governance modernization follows the value orientation of justice, which implies a rational allocation of rights and obligations. On the one hand, in the process of crime governance, citizens must abide by their obligations and have corresponding rights to achieve the unity of rights, protection, and obligations. On the other hand, the subject of crime governance must exercise power in a standardized manner and actively perform their duties. The ultimate goal of fairness and justice is for individual interests to be respected and satisfied. Chinese crime governance modernization is different from that in the West. It is committed to realizing the alignment of individual interest and social value orientation, and achieving good governance at a higher level. Thus, in the process of crime governance, a dynamic balance must be achieved between individual interest and public interest, and ‘individual freedom must not be sacrificed randomly for the sake of the public interest’. C. Making Coordinating Security and Developmenta Priority in Crime Governance ‘Taking political security as the fundamental task and integrating development with security are the underlying logic of the Chinese path to modernization, and this inevitability runs through the entire process of the Chinese path to modernization.’ When using the leverage of crime governance to balance security and development, security must be prioritized, and the rule of order must be realized. ‘Order means a certain consistency, continuity, and certainty in both natural and social processes.’ This is based on different positions, giving rise to different ideas and actions. In the new era, people have greater expectations for the right to a better life and the right to development, which is bound to guide order-based crime governance ‘to harmonious order’, and ‘insist on the coordination of the two major issues of development and security’. Security guarantees development, and development is the purpose of security. ‘Crime governance in the new era should actively serve to ensure high-quality economic and social development.’ Without development as a prerequisite, political, economic, and cultural progress will be difficult to achieve, and crime governance will be ‘cooking without rice’, not to mention how to ensure national security, social stability, and people’s well-being. Crime governance is the art of repairing the conflict between crime and order, and reconciling security and development. In order to strike a balance between security and development, crime governance must be strengthened to ensure security while safeguarding development. Moreover, development must be promoted by balancing harsh punishment with leniency, adjusting criminal policy, and innovating the criminal system while safeguarding security. Therefore, it is necessary to holistically deal with the dialectical relationship between justice and efficiency, freedom and order, democracy and dictatorship, and maintaining stability and protecting rights. This involves deepening the innovation of concepts, institutional mechanisms, means, and methods of crime governance, and creating an environment conducive to the development of political, economic, and cultural undertakings. D. Integrating Tempering Justice withMercy Throughout Crime Governance Tempering justice with mercy is a criminal policy and a dynamic adjustment mechanism for criminal (governance) policy based on positional choices, including behavioral driving forces. It integrates abstract ideology with concrete action plans. Firstly, it is a value system of ‘basic concepts, attitudes, and orientations about human beings and society, crime and its treatment’. Secondly, it is a regulatory system of principles, strategies, and techniques for crime prevention and treatment. At the macro level, the country and the society take different positions on crime, and the logic of its governance varies accordingly, as reflected in the size of the criminal circle and the attitude toward criminalization. The Chinese crime governance modernization must be people-oriented, safeguard human rights, limit public power, highlight social governance, give full play to the functions of non-criminal means, and maintain the modesty of the criminal law. Therefore, the first step in implementing tempering justice with mercy is to reshape the value concept of crime governance, change the fundamental stance on illegal and criminal behaviors, and define the rank and order of different types of governance, such as social governance and criminal law governance. At the meso level, the willingness of the country and the society to control crime directly impacts the choice of crime policies, directions, and strategies. Tempering justice with mercy is a kind of decision-making theory. It involves ‘planning and guiding the basic direction, basic path, basic form and main approach of anti-crime activities of the whole society under the guidance of combinatorial values … as well as regulating the allocation of resources, i.e. organizational structure, competence, human, and financial and material resources, in the main links of anticrime activities’. The Chinese path to crime governance modernization maintains a dynamic and flexible approach to crime prevention and control under the willingness of the country and the society to deal with crime and implement targeted measures according to the time, place, and person. By comprehensively utilizing a variety of means, from legislation to the judicial chain, a multidimensional and systematic approach is taken to address the factors that breed crime. At the same time, it is necessary to highlight the key points, grasp the main contradictions, and concentrate on solving the problems of corruption, drug-related crimes, and gang-related crimes that are particularly abhorrent to the people. In the cases involving minors and other special groups, a ‘lenient’ approach has been taken. At the micro level, crime governance needs to adhere to the principle of proportionality. ‘It is undesirable to limit those responsible for handling illegal transgressions when they have ‘produced a nuisance’. It is necessary to determine whether the benefits from preventing the obstruction outweigh the losses otherwise suffered due to the cessation of the nuisance.’ Based on the requirements of the Chinese path to modernization to respect and safeguard human rights, it is necessary to limit the exercise of public power in certain ways. Ⅳ. THE OVERALL PLAN FOR THE CHINESE PATH TOCRIME GOVERNANCE MODERNIZATION Implementing a holistic approach to national security for crime governance in various fields involves exploring a crime governance model with Chinese characteristics based on national conditions. Strengthening crime governance is crucial to promoting the modernization of China’s governance system and capacity. The ‘four beams and eight pillars’ of crime governance are built by relying on crime governance to promote the modernization of the social governance system and governance capacity. This is summarized as a guiding ‘program’ for crime governance modernization. The focus of crime governance modernization is subjectively mapped out. A. Implementing a Holistic Approach toNational Security to Govern Crime in Various Fields The connection between the time frames of the Two Centenary Goals, the profound changes unseen in a century, the uncertainties in the global development outlook, and the outstanding problems facing domestic development profoundly affect crime governance. Issues of inadequate and unbalanced development need to be efficiently addressed, and ecological and environmental protection is a long and arduous task. The modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity requires further advancement. In the post-industrial era, various risks that induce criminal activities do not exist in isolation, but flow across regions, levels, and fields, intertwining and influencing each other. It is necessary to accurately grasp the changes and characteristics of crime situation and implement a holistic approach to national security in crime governance. Implementing a holistic approach to national security is the basic strategy for upholding and developing socialism in the new era. It is an important part of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. ‘A holistic approach to national security takes into account the plurality of the national security system, reflects the hierarchy of the national security system, analyzes the structure of the national security system, emphasizes the wholeness of the national security system, and is a highly scientific, united and guiding theoreticalsystem.’ It must be fully recognized that for crime governance, national security is a multifaceted, hierarchical, and structured system that needs to transcend domains based on focusing on the local and taking into account the whole, with a holistic approach to national security as the framework. In order to effectively implement a holistic approach to national security, it is paramount to prioritize crime prevention in accordance with the law. This entails resolutely stopping and cracking down on all illegal and criminal activities that jeopardize the security and interests of the country. This objective ensures that the nation’s security and the people’s interests are not infringed upon. Notably, strong measures should be taken to respond to outstanding problems. A single crackdown on a specific area of criminal behavior is like ‘solving one problem only to find another one cropping up’, which cannot effectively prevent or control crime. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively and systematically analyze and respond to, link up and comprehensively manage criminal activities in various fields, and create a new situation for crime governance in China. B. Exploring a Crime Governance Model with Chinese Characteristics The structure of crime in China has undergone profound changes, and corresponding changes are needed in response to crime governance. As an abstract generalization of crime practice, the crime governance model centrally reflects the structural elements of crime governance, such as its characteristics, philosophy, strategy, and approach. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, although the traces of the single-subject implementation by the country, and reliance on policy to control crime have faded, criminal law has continuously received more attention than civil law. Even though in the early twentieth century, a comprehensive social security management model with Chinese characteristics was formed, it did not get rid of the idea of criminal governance. This criminal law-oriented model of crime governance persists. Crime governance has become more proactive, with ‘an overall displacement and downward hierarchical shift from felony to petty crime, from natural to statutory and economic crime, from offline to cybercrime, and from actual and consequential crime to dangerous and orderly crime’. This shift is in line with the needs ofrisk-based social governance and, to a certain extent, embodies the model of comprehensive crime governance. However, fundamentally, it still simplifies crime governance into the governance of criminal law, falling short of the requirements of modernized crime governance. ‘It is vital to get out of the vicious circle in which the volume of criminal law and the volume of crime go hand in hand, and the cost of maintaining stability grows in tandem with the pressure to maintain stability. It needs to conform to the trend of social change and redesign the ideas and models of crime governance.’ The formation and changes of the crime governance model are ‘strongly influenced by a number of factors, including the country’s governance philosophy, the social structure, and the country’s financial provision and extraction. These are closely linked to political, economic, cultural, social, and other changes’. China’s crime governance should be rooted in China’s current national conditions and the special circumstances faced by crime prevention and control, and gain tenacious vitality on the Chinese path to modernization. Adapting to the Chinese path to modernization necessitates reshaping the crime governance model, ‘so that the concepts, methods, and measures of crime governance have been transformed and sublimated, providing a new sample of crime governance for the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity’. Crime governance should, in terms of guiding concepts, consider the causes of crime and the ways to eliminate its negative impacts. Highlighting crime prevention and paying attention to the negative impacts of crime should abandon relying solely on criminal means to prevent crime. Instead, it should take into account the collateral effects of generalized and heavy sentencing, and set up a system that uses legal and moral means to eliminate the causes of crime by improving political, economic, cultural, educational, and other means. Structurally, it should integrate diversified social resources, reach out to a wider range of social relations, broaden the channels for democratic participation by pluralistic subjects, give full play to the roles of organizations at different levels, and form a state-led structure for the participation of pluralistic subjects. In practice, it puts the concept of restorative justice into practice, focusing on unclogging the high-pressure and mutually exclusive environment between the criminal population and normal society. It makes good use of the advantages of the distinctive institutional mechanism to downplay the punishment and control of criminals by the country through pluralistic consultation, so as to obtain social support and facilitate their return to normal society. C. Strengthening Crime Governance to Promote the Modernization of China’s Governance System and Capacity Crime governance capacity is a part of national governance capacity, including but not limited to crime prevention and control, scientific foresight of the crime situation and the sense of anticipation, the ability to analyze the causes of crime and formulate policies, the ability to integrate forces and scientifically deploy resources to deal with risks quickly, the ability to pay attention to crime and think in terms of strategy, the rule of law, innovation, and the bottom line. Strengthening crime governance and the efficacy of social governance is crucial to ensuring that the public security, procuratorial, and judicial organs perform their duties within the scope of their power. This shapes moral values of the society and improves the governance capacity of the country. National governance capacity, as the basis of crime governance capacity, determines the breadth, depth, and strength of crime governance. Crime governance capacity cannot be equated with national governance capacity, but is a concrete manifestation of national governance capacity. When the crime governance capacity improves, the modernization level will also increase, so will the national governance capacity. The exploration of crime governance modernization is, to some extent, a way of placing crime governance in the context of Chinese modernization and relying on the modernization of national governance. National governance modernization, as a medium at the meso level, closely links crime governance with the Chinese path to modernization. It attaches great importance to the function of the modernization of the crime governance system and governance capacity in promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. It focuses on adapting to new situations of criminal activity, strengthening crime governance, continuously improving the crime governance system, enhancing its effectiveness, and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity at all levels. It is necessary to give full play to the comprehensive driving effect of the modernization of the crime governance system and governance capacity, follow the rule of law to build a scientific and complete system of crime governance, strengthen the implementation of the rule of law in crime governance, make full use of the advantages of the system to improve the crime governance capacity, use the rule of law to implement relevant laws for the improvement of the crime governance capacity, and use the power of the rule of law to promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. D. Relying on Crime Governance to Promote the Modernization ofthe Social Governance System and Governance Capacity The Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC regards the improvement of the social governance system as one of the important tasks to achieve modernization of the national security system and capacity, and resolutely maintain national security and social stability. It clearly proposes to improve the social governance system based on collaboration, participation, and shared benefits, and to enhance the effectiveness of social governance. Crime governance has the qualities of ‘bonding’ methods, domains and subjects, etc. The modernization of the social governance system and governance capacity can be vigorously promoted in the process of crime governance. Multi-subject participation in crime governance contributes to developing a sound system of social governance subjects and enhancing the capacity of social governance subjects. The social governance system based on collaboration, participation, and shared benefits emphasizes the formation of a basic, stable, and structural system among the subjects participating in social governance, which fundamentally affects the setting of social governance purposes, the formulation of key tasks, the combination of main methods, and the arrangement of relevant systems. Crime and even national governance are not simply regarding control but inherently imply collaboration, participation, and shared benefits. Therefore, one of the important features of crime governance modernization is the diversity of subjects, which means solving crime problems using public-private integration of consultation, guidance, regulation, and other diversified ways. This practice contributes to the social governance system based on collaboration, participation, and shared benefits, and is also conducive to promoting the soundness of this system. The implementation of crime governance in multiple ways contributes to improving the system of social governance methods and enhancing the capacity of social governance tools. In the new era, social governance needs to play the leading role of politics, the consolidating role of the rule of law, the enlightening role of the rule of virtue, and the fundamental role of self-governance. Utilizing diverse approaches to crime control, improving the system of crime control methods, and enhancing crime control capacity can help improve social governance. The institutionalization of crime governance aims to improve the system of social governance mechanisms and enhance the capacity to guarantee social governance. An important aspect of improving the social governance system is to innovate and develop the social governance mechanism system and enhance the guarantee capacity of the mechanism. Crime governance modernization focuses on innovating crime governance mechanisms, including mechanisms for resolving minor conflicts, preventing and controlling major risks, and punishing illegal and criminal activities. It also includes mechanisms for leadership by the Party committees, community coordination, and people’s participation. Enhancing these elements undoubtedly promotes the improvement of the social governance mechanism system. Ⅴ. THE PRACTICAL APPROACHES TO CHINESE PATH TOCRIME GOVERNANCE MODERNIZATION Governance is ‘a combination of the multiple methods by which individuals and institutions, whether public or private, manage their common affairs’. Crime governance is not simply a criminal justice issue; at the methodological level, it is a comprehensive public policy issue that includes social and administrative components. The Chinese path to crime governance modernization is to establish and improve crime governance mechanisms and methods under the overall leadership of the CPC, and promote the modernization of the crime governance system and governance capacity in an all-around manner. A. Adhering to the Leadership of the Party toPlan the Top-Level Design of Crime Governance Adhering to and strengthening the leadership of the Party is the most fundamental guarantee for Chinese crime governance modernization. Additionally, the leadership of the Party is the political advantage of crime governance modernization and the core key to maintaining the continuous advancement of crime governance modernization. Firstly, it is necessary to ensure the implementation of the Party’s basic theories, lines, and strategies throughout the entire process of crime management and that law-enforcementofficials maintain a stable political stance, a correct political direction and a firm political belief, so that their work can be carried out in an orderly manner. Secondly, it is necessary to align the prevention and crackdown on all kinds of illegal and criminal activities in accordance with the law, as well as the protection of national security and interests, with the CPC Central Committee’s deployment of national security work. Thirdly, in order to establish the Four Consciousnesses, i.e. maintaining the political integrity, thinking in terms of the broader picture, following the leadership core, and keeping in alignment with the CPC Central Committee, it is essential to resolutely safeguard the core position of Comrade Xi Jinping and the authority and centralized leadership of the CPC Central Committee. Consistency with the CPC Central Committee should be maintained in ideology, politics, and operation. Additionally, it is necessary to place crime governance in the context of national security and consolidate the advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. Fourthly, we must ensure that crime governance is consistent with the Party’s lines and policies, deeply understand the Party’s policies and deployments in crime governance, and strictly implement them in all aspects of crime governance. B. Building an Integrated System of Crime Governance ThroughCooperative and Comprehensive Control and Administration The Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC regards ‘continuing to address issues at the source through systematic, law-based, and holistic approaches’ as important experience. To some extent, this breaks through the traditionalstate-led model of crime control, no longer relying solely on complete criminal justice to suppress and eliminate crime, but attempting to seek diversified public-private cooperation to jointly respond to the high incidence of crime. When the attempt to solely rely on the government to control crime fails, it is evident that crime becomes a social problem that must be addressed as a public matter. Consequently, integrating fragmented social resources is seen as a necessary step. This approach will lead to the development of a comprehensive and effective model of crime governance that distinguishes between autonomous and authoritative cooperation among multiple subjects. This is a model of crime control with Chinese characteristics that have been explored in light of China’s national conditions and realities. It aims to solve the problems that traditional crime control methods and those practiced in Western countries have failed to solve, ultimately transforming crime control into good crime governance. C. Integrating Crime Combat, Prevention, Governance, and Control to Optimize Crime Management System Planning We must comprehensively implement the stabilization of social security, focusing on the work policy of ‘combining punishment and prevention, with prevention as the main focus’. We must further implement the ideas of comprehensive governance, source governance, and law-based governance, continuously improve the construction of the social security prevention and control system, continue to promote the integration of crime combat, prevention, and control, and strengthen the social control and prevention. Firstly, we need to actively resolve conflicts. Many small contradictions and disputes may have the ‘butterfly effect’ after fermentation and accumulate into huge risks. Therefore, we should pay full attention to preventing and eliminating the smallest problems, and innovating crime management methods. A dispute resolution system must be built with the participation of multiple subjects, with different grades, with smooth connection, and with full support, to prevent contradictions and disputes from escalating into crime risks, and prevent the occurrence of crime. Secondly, we need to take the initiative to crack down on illegal and criminal activities. We will focus on cracking down on criminal activities, such as theft, robbery, intentional injury, provocation, telecommunication network fraud, and other crimes, and actively carry out clue investigation and tracking to prevent the growth of illegal and criminal activities and nip them in the bud. In addition, we should strictly control and promptly eliminate potential security risks. On the one hand, we need to strengthen social security control, timely grasp the social dynamics and destabilizing factors, and strive to eliminate the emerging destabilizing factors. On the other hand, for foreign-related, organized, and new types of criminal activities, we should not only be prepared to fight a protracted war and crack down on them over the long term to prevent them from escalating, but also focus on crime control and timely treatment to eliminate the negative impact. D. Strengthening the Legal Supply toReinforce the Rule of Law in Crime Governance ‘On the Chinese path to modernization, the regulating and guiding role of law is essential not only in the perceptual and rational level of awareness, but also in the level from concept to action, and from theory to practice.’Law-based crime governance is an inevitable requirement of the law-basedgovernance. In order to realize good laws and good governance, it is necessary to build a systematic, complete, scientifically standardized, and effectively functioning institutional system. We will continue to focus on solving the problem of insufficient legal supply for crime governance, promulgate and introduce a series of laws and regulations, and vigorously strengthen the supply of the legal system for crime governance to realize the rule of law in crime governance. In addition to filling the legal gap of illegal and criminal activities that people strongly reflect, it is necessary to step up efforts to improve the law, make up for the deficiencies, give full play to the power of the rule of law, and use the thinking and approach in terms of the rule of law to govern crime. Criminal law norms should be improved ‘to build a codified criminal law system with the criminal law at the core, the misdemeanor law as a supplement, and parallel penalties and security measures, and to form a progressive and seamless sanctioning mechanism of the public security administration punishment law, the misdemeanor law, and the criminal law’. We must continue to improve civil, administrative, and other legal norms so that they can be integrated and connected in an orderly manner. E. Integrating Morality, Law, Education, and Punishment toEnhance the Soft and Hard Capacity of Crime Governance ‘In the search for a grassroots social governance model with Chinese characteristics in the new era, the Fengqiao model stands out because it is an urban and rural grassroots governance model led by the Party organization that combines self-governance, the rule of law, and the rule of virtue’. The law has a lagging effect, and many illegal and criminal behaviors may exceed the scope of legal regulation, thus requiring the function of morality to fill in the gaps. Although moral education can guide behavioral norms, its function is limited. The ‘broken window effect’ and moral decline may lead to a surge in illegal and criminal behaviors. Therefore, it is still necessary to consolidate ethical conduct into a mandatory rule of universal compliance. Besides, legal norms that embody positive moral values must be internalized into people’s conscious judgments and codes of conduct to be universally observed. This is achieved by fully recognizing the respective limitations and complementary nature of law and morality, focusing on complementing the functions of both, endogenously suppressing the triggers of criminal behavior, externally purifying the environment for the recurrence of criminal behavior, and constructing a coupled system of crime governance from the inside out. Additionally, this is achieved by taking the path of the rule of law with Chinese characteristics, weakening the spread of erroneous ideas such as money worship, hedonism, and extreme individualism that may lead to crime through ‘internal and external’ and ‘soft and firm’ measures. F. Strengthening International Cooperation toCoordinate the Internal and External Mechanism of Crime Management The complexity of the global situation has provided a ‘pivot’ for unleashing the destructive power of crime risks from increasingly diversified sources. The path and speed of risk transmission have reached an unprecedented scale, especially with the empowerment of high technology, which enables the overlap of all kinds of risks, including crime, to form a convergent and super-scale security crisis. Crime governance needs to take the concept of the community with a shared future for mankind as its value base, abandon the localism of crime governance, break through the boundaries of security risks and the geospatial barriers of national security, and jointly prevent the emergence of globalized security crises. The key to strengthening global cooperation in crime governance lies in the promotion of domestic and foreign-related rule of law and the coordination of domestic and foreign crime governance mechanisms. G. Optimizing the Resource Allocation toMeet the Needs of Crime Governance In order to effectively address the evolving landscape of crime types and the increasingly intelligent and covert means of committing crimes, it is important to cope with and vigorously combat all kinds of crimes. Additionally, it is necessary to strengthen material guarantees such as human resources and equipment to make them compatible with the laws and mechanisms, and form a comprehensive supporting pattern for crime governance modernization. Particularly, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of human resources to provide human resources protection for Chinese crime governance modernization. On the one hand, it is necessary to improve the political and theoretical literacy, professional working ability, and high-tech application level of judicial officials and others involved in crime governance. On the other hand, it is also necessary to continuously strengthen the capacity of law-enforcement officials to resist corruption. Ⅵ. CONCLUSION The Chinese path to crime governance modernization is both a static pattern and a dynamic process. From the level of static pattern, the Chinese path to crime governance modernization has three levels of meaning. The first one is ‘crime governance modernization’, which means the overall transformation of crime governance toward civilization in response to modernization. The second one is the ‘Chinese’ path to crime governance, which means that crime governance modernization must be rooted in Chinese national conditions. The third one is the Chinese ‘model’ of crime governance modernization, which means that Chinese crime governance modernization has become a paradigm. It plays an exemplary role in the process of crime governance modernization around the world. At the level of a dynamic process, the Chinese path to crime governance modernization is guided by the principles of the Chinese path to modernization and led by the CPC. This process combines Marxism with the concrete practice of Chinese crime governance, linking China’s local crime governance with global standards. It emphasizes the holistic approach to national security, develops a crime governance model with Chinese characteristics, and is guided by the modernization of national and social governance systems and capacities. Its core lies in a people-centered philosophy, striving for justice while integrating safety and development and balancing justice with mercy. This process continues to advance, aiming to promote the profound changes in the ideas, methods, means, and mechanisms of crime governance, making them civilized, scientific, and compatible with socialist modernization. Therefore, our goal is to achieve a globally advanced level of crime governance and contribute to realizing the Second Centenary Goal and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
