New rules for drunk driving - those with a blood alcohol content of less than 150 milligrams/100 milliliters can be treated as a non-criminal offense

Author | Criminal Center, Attorney Gan Dingzhong

The crime of dangerous driving was criminalized in the Criminal Law Amendment (VIII) on February 25, 2011, and the author handled many such cases that year.

Since then, in practice, the case-handling organs have handled a large number of dangerous driving cases in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law, and many drunk drivers have been punished by the Criminal Law.

However, due to the severity of criminal penalties, a large number of drunk drivers have been sentenced to prison, resulting in criminal stains on their lives, as well as negative personal social evaluations, as well as criminal sanctions, professional impact, disciplinary actions, and administrative penalties that they have received.

Therefore, there have been different views and discussions on the sentencing of such cases in practice, and the relevant academic research and the evaluation of the legal profession have not stopped.

This time, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice issued the "Opinions on Handling Criminal Cases of Drunk and Dangerous Driving", which can alleviate the problem that the threshold for conviction is too low to a certain extent. However, after the conviction of dangerous driving cases, whether it is necessary to establish a "system of eliminating prior convictions in misdemeanor cases", or when to establish a similar system to detract from the accompanying discrimination caused by the party's punishment for dangerous driving, is still a problem that needs to be studied and solved in the future.

According to Article 12 of the Opinions of the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice on Handling Criminal Cases of Drunk and Dangerous Driving, if drunk driving has one of the following circumstances, and does not have the circumstances specified in Article 10 of this opinion, it can be determined that the circumstances are significantly minor and the harm is not significant, and shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of Article 13 of the Criminal Law and Article

16of the Criminal Procedure Law:

(A) blood alcohol content of less than 150 milligrams/100 milliliters;

(2) Driving a motor vehicle for emergency situations such as first aid to the injured and sick, and does not constitute an emergency avoidance.

(3) Driving a motor vehicle for short distances in residential areas, parking lots, etc.

(4) Driving a motor vehicle by another person to a residential area, parking lot, or other place for a short distance, or driving a short distance from a residential area, parking lot, or other place for the purpose of being driven by another person;

(5) Other circumstances where the circumstances are significantly minor.

In addition, the second paragraph of this article clearly stipulates that if it meets the emergency avoidance situation, the provisions of Article 21 of the Criminal Law on [Emergency Avoidance] shall apply: "If you are drunk and have to drive a motor vehicle due to emergency situations such as first aid to the wounded and sick, which constitutes emergency avoidance, you shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of Article

21of the Criminal Law."

The opinion came into effect on December 28, 2023.

Gan Dingzhong

2024.1.21, contribution

Opinions of the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice on Handling Criminal Cases of Drunk and Dangerous Driving

https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/xwfbh/wsfbt/202312/t20231218_637161.shtml#1

Lawyer Profile

Lawyer Gan Dingzhong

Partner of

Director of the Financial Crime Defense Department of Zhiheng Criminal Center

Member of Economic Crime Defense Committee of Guangdong Lawyers Association

Member of the Duty Crime Defense Committee of Shenzhen Lawyers Association

Head of the Legal Advisory Group of Shenzhen Pingxiang Chamber of Commerce

Publications:

**** *** - Chinese Bar Lawyers (published by People's Daily Press)

"Defense Records of Excellent Lawyers in China" (published by Law Publishing House)

"Starting from Fairness" (People's Daily Publishing House)

"Chinese Lawyers Yearbook" (2011)

"China's Contemporary Excellent Lawyers" (Law Press)

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Criminal Center

The Criminal Center is one of the professional centers of

. Its main business includes commercial crime defense, criminal litigation, financial crime defense, common crime defense, and criminal-civil intersection. It brings together talents, platforms, and professional advantages. At the same time, it has the advantage of quickly forming cross-business and cross-regional cooperation teams, and can provide comprehensive, timely and accurate legal services to clients.

The Criminal Center is dedicated to professional cultivation, and continues to move forward with the goal of "building an excellent business card for national criminal legal services".

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