I. Brief introduction of the case
The defendant Ning Moumou and the victim Chen Mou's land are adjacent, and there is a contradiction between them due to drainage problems. 17, April 2005, 13, they quarreled and wrestled again because of the problem of how to drain water. Ning Moumou slammed his chest and head continuously, chased Ning Moumou after being beaten, and fell to the ground and died in the pursuit. According to forensic identification, Chen Mou suffered from coronary heart disease, which resulted in cardiac arrest and sudden death due to emotional excitement and chest thumping during quarrel. ①
Second, the main differences of opinion
There are three main views on the nature of this case:
1. Ning's behavior caused the victim's death, but it was an accident and did not constitute a crime. Because it is impossible for Ning Moumou to foresee that the victim Chen Mou suffers from coronary heart disease, and the victim's own disease, even without the beating of others, may be caused by emotional excitement and other factors.
2. Ning's behavior constitutes the crime of negligent death. Because Ning Moumou punched and kicked his chest and head continuously, as a mentally normal person, according to his subjective cognitive ability and the objective situation at that time, he should have foreseen that his behavior might lead to the death of the victim. Objectively, Ning's punching behavior did induce the victim's coronary heart disease and led to his death.
3. Ning's behavior constitutes intentional injury (death). Ning Moumou knew that his beating behavior would cause harm to the victim's body, but he hit the victim's head and chest continuously with his fist, causing the victim to have a coronary heart disease attack and lead to his death.
Third, forensic identification of the cause of death.
Forensic identification of the cause of death is mainly based on forensic theory and technology, analyzing the primary and secondary positions of various causes of death and the causal relationship between injury, disease and death results. Forensic medicine generally divides the cause of death into direct cause, fundamental cause and cause of death.
1, direct cause of death
According to the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO) International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD- 10), the direct cause of death is the injury or disease that directly leads to death. If someone is stabbed in the chest and dies of hemorrhagic shock, hemorrhagic shock is the direct cause of death.
2. The root cause of death
According to the definition of ICD- 10, the fundamental cause of death is the injury or disease that leads to direct death, while the primary injury or disease leads to death. In the above example, being stabbed in the chest is the primary injury leading to death and the root cause of death.
3. Cause of death
When death is caused by minor trauma, physical activity or mental factors, these factors that are not enough to cause death alone are called causes of death. The inducement can not be classified as the cause of death in ICD- 10 classification, that is, the inducement is not the cause of death in essence. The relationship among root cause of death, direct cause of death and cause of death can be shown as follows: ②.
Inducing cause of death
The root cause of death, the direct cause of death, personal death
As far as this case is concerned, the relationship between the causes can be expressed as follows:
Cause of death (blow to chest and head)
The root cause of death (coronary heart disease) The direct cause of death (cardiac arrest) Individual death
Four. Comments on the main points
1. Views on intentional injury (death)
This view holds that Ning Moumou's beating behavior is the direct cause of Chen Mou's coronary heart disease attack, and the coronary heart disease attack is the direct cause of Chen Mou's death, thus inferring that there is a causal relationship between Ning Moumou's beating behavior and Chen Mou's death. This inference is wrong and there is no scientific basis to support it. In forensic medicine, there is no essential connection between inducement and death. According to China's criminal law theory, there must be an inherent and inevitable causal relationship between the harmful behavior and the result, and the actor has an objective basis for assuming criminal responsibility. (3) Paragraph 2 of Article 234 of China's Criminal Law refers to the case that the injury directly leads to the death of the victim, and there is an inevitable causal relationship between the injury and the death result. Therefore, Ning's behavior does not meet the constitutive requirements of intentional injury (death). It is obviously unfair to bear the criminal responsibility of intentional injury (death). If Ning Moumou hits a person with normal constitution, it is not enough to cause minor injuries. Not only does he not need to bear criminal responsibility, but he may not even need to bear civil responsibility. Just apologize.
2. My opinion on the crime of negligent death.
Article 233 of the Criminal Law stipulates the crime of negligent death, which means that the subjective behavior is negligent, while the objective negligent behavior causes the victim to die, and there is an inevitable causal relationship between this behavior and the victim's death. In this case, because Ning's beating behavior is not the root cause of Chen Mou's death, even if Ning is subjectively negligent, his behavior does not constitute the crime of negligent death.
3. Views on the accident
Article 16 of China's criminal law stipulates: "Although an act objectively causes damage, it is not caused by intention or negligence, but by irresistible or unforeseeable reasons, and does not constitute a crime." In this case, firstly, Ning's beating behavior is not the root cause of death, but the root cause of death is coronary heart disease; Secondly, Ning Moumou's understanding of coronary heart disease, the root cause of Chen Mou's death, is unpredictable as common sense unless he is an insider. Therefore, Chen Mou's death really meets the requirements of the accident. However, it is unfair for Chen Mou to deal with this issue qualitatively. If Ning Moumou had not been continuously hit and died of coronary heart disease, at least at that time, his potential coronary heart disease might not have occurred and died, even if it was caused by his own reasons in the future, he might not have died. Therefore, on the basis of affirming that Chen Mou's death was an accident, Ning Moumou did not have to bear criminal responsibility for Chen Mou's death, we should further analyze the role played by Ning Moumou in Chen Mou's death and what responsibility he should bear.
In-depth analysis of verbs (abbreviation of verb) and legislative suggestions
Through the above analysis, it is found that Jeannin's criminal responsibility for Chen Mou's death has neither legal basis nor fairness; It is obviously unfair for the deceased Chen Mou not to let Ning Moumou bear criminal responsibility, which seems to be a dead end. In fact, the thinking of "Chen Mou's death, do you want Jeannin to bear criminal responsibility" has led us to a dead end. Only by jumping out of this mindset can we find a reasonable way to solve this problem fairly, and not letting Ning Moumou bear criminal responsibility for Chen Mou's death does not mean that Ning Moumou can not bear other criminal responsibilities. We know that a single injury may cause minor injuries, serious injuries or even death to the victim. As long as minor injuries are caused, criminal responsibility may be assumed. So, can Ning's beating of Chen Mou reach the degree of minor injury? In practice, this problem is generally analyzed from the direct result of beating behavior, but this kind of incentive behavior generally does not cause minor injuries. This kind of thinking is one-sided, and it does not take into account that this kind of behavior combined with other factors will cause greater harm. Just like charcoal, it doesn't have much destructive power. When mixed with sulfur and saltpeter, it can cause great damage. Therefore, we should make a more appropriate evaluation of the damage results caused by incentives.
According to the Appraisal Standard for Minor Injuries (for Trial Implementation), minor injuries refer to injuries to tissues and organs or partial dysfunction caused by various external factors, which do not constitute serious injuries and are not minor injuries. For example, burns with a superficial area of more than 2 degrees and 5% constitute minor injuries.
According to the Identification Standard for Serious Injuries, serious injuries refer to injuries that cause physical disability, disfigurement, loss of hearing, loss of vision, loss of other organ functions or great harm to personal health. For example, adult second-degree burns that reach more than 30% of the body surface area constitute serious injuries.
Ning Moumou beat Chen Moumou to induce coronary heart disease attack and death. Obviously, there is no comparison between any of the standards of minor injuries and serious injuries. In order to facilitate the explanation, we quantify the personal injury caused by the injury behavior. Suppose that an injury behavior causes death, the damage to human health is 100%, and 5% of the damage to human health constitutes a minor injury (only 5% of the superficial second-degree burn on the skin constitutes a minor injury, and 5% of the damage to the whole human health is enough as a minor injury standard), and 30% of the damage constitutes a serious injury. So, what percentage of health damage can Ning Moumou achieve when he hits Chen Mou and causes his illness and death? We know that if there is no coronary heart disease, Ning's beating behavior will not lead to death. Similarly, if there is no external reason, coronary heart disease in Chen Mou will not lead to death, but when these two reasons are combined, it will produce the most serious result-death. Although coronary heart disease is the main cause, the inducement is also an essential factor, and the proportional relationship between them is very important. It is difficult to judge whether the role of inducement can cause 30% damage to human health, that is, the degree of serious damage, but obviously it can cause 5% damage to human health, that is, slight damage. In other words, Jeannin's criminal responsibility for Chen Mou's death is supported by scientific evidence. This treatment should also be fair and reasonable to both parties.
Of course, there is no relevant provision in the existing legislation. In order to handle this kind of cases fairly, it is suggested to add a paragraph to Article 234 of the Criminal Law: "Whoever intentionally hurts another person's body, induces another person's potential illness to worsen and causes death, shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the first paragraph". This is conducive to handling such cases fairly according to law and promoting social harmony.
① Yu Song and Wang: "How to characterize the death of people with special physique caused by injury behavior", Anhui Procuratorate, No.6, 2008.
② Hou: Forensic Medicine, Higher Education Press, 1 Edition,1-12, 2004.
(3) Guide to the National Entrance Examination for LLM Postgraduates, Renmin University of China Press, 5th edition, page 27, August 2004.
(Author: Deputy Director of the Technical Department of the People's Procuratorate of Huaibei City, Anhui Province)