At present, China's legal theorists have basically reached an agreement on this issue, but there is still considerable resistance to putting it into practice. The concealment of relatives will inevitably increase the difficulty of public security and judicial organs in detecting cases, especially corruption crimes or economic crimes, and the resistance is very great. Of course, with the progress of public security judicial investigation technology and the improvement of case handling level, this difficulty will not be the most important. Because recognizing the right of concealment is a legal right, public security and judicial organs should not facilitate their work by increasing their obligations or even damaging citizens' rights. The biggest difficulty lies in the operability of legislation: it is difficult to define what range of relatives can hide from each other, what crimes can't be hidden from each other, and what is the degree of concealment, whether it is in general language or enumeration. The complexity of real life often exceeds the provisions of the law, which also gives judges great discretion. Judges with different qualities have different views on the same case, so there will be great differences in practice. At present, some legislative technical suggestions have been put forward in theoretical research, and the scheme put forward by Meng Qixun, a teacher of Huazhong Normal University, in On "Relatives Keeping Secrets from each other" and its modern vitality is more operable. Legislators must clearly define the subject scope of "mutual concealment". The 10 people defined in the Criminal Procedure Law, that is, husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, are all immediate relatives and can be listed among them. Whether to include in-laws and immediate family members of more than two generations needs further study and discussion. Criminal law should clearly limit the level of "mutual concealment", such as refusing to testify in court, shielding, harboring, perjury, or even joint crime. The types of crimes of "concealing from each other" should also be stipulated by law.
China's ancient concealment system excluded crimes that seriously endangered the rule, such as rebellion and rebellion, from the scope of concealment. This shows that tolerance is not absolute, and there should be clear provisions to prevent judges from acting arbitrarily. General legislation should be adopted when the law gives relatives the right to hide from each other, and minor crimes should not be reported; Clearly limit the behavior that cannot be concealed from each other, and supplement it with judicial interpretation when appropriate.
So, what are the restrictions on hiding from each other? Mainly includes the following items: 1. Those who endanger the vital interests of national security or commit major or vicious crimes shall not conceal from each other. 2. Family crimes, such as abuse and abandonment between relatives, sexual assault on children and adopted children, violate family ethics and run counter to the legislative intention of "hiding relatives"; Of course, crimes that are minor and forgiven by relatives are exceptions. 3. Allow judges to make discretion in some special circumstances, temporarily exempt some people from the right to "hide from each other" and force them to testify. For example, letting them exercise the right of "hiding from each other" may cause imminent danger, or it is impossible to eliminate the imminent major danger. This kind of discretion should be strictly controlled within the scope prescribed by law and should not be abused.