This crime infringes on complex objects, that is, the personal rights of citizens and the normal crime of extorting confessions by torture by state judicial organs.
Activities. China's laws strictly protect citizens' personal rights, and even those who are suspected or accused of committing crimes are not allowed to violate their personal rights illegally. Extorting a confession by torture will cause physical harm and mental damage to the person on trial, thus directly infringing on the personal rights of citizens. However, deciding cases based on extorting confessions by torture often leads to unjust, false and misjudged cases, which hinders the normal activities of judicial organs, undermines the socialist legal system and damages the prestige of judicial organs.
The targets of this crime are criminal suspects and defendants. The so-called criminal suspect refers to a person who is suspected of committing a criminal act according to certain evidence. The so-called defendant refers to a person who is accused of being guilty according to law and investigated for criminal responsibility by judicial organs. The witness cannot be the object of this crime. If extorting a confession by torture constitutes a crime, it shall be punished as the crime of obtaining evidence by violence.
2. objective factors.
Objectively, this crime is manifested in the use of corporal punishment or corporal punishment in disguised form to extract confessions from criminal suspects and defendants. First of all, the object of extorting confessions by torture is the criminal suspect in the process of investigation and the criminal defendant in the process of prosecution and trial. Whether the actions of criminal suspects and defendants actually constitute a crime has no influence on the establishment of this crime. Secondly, the method of torture must be corporal punishment or corporal punishment in disguise. The so-called corporal punishment refers to violent acts on the victim's body, such as hanging, tying, beating and other methods of torturing people's bodies. The so-called corporal punishment in disguised form refers to the use of non-violent destruction and torture on the victims, such as freezing to death, starving to death, roasting to death, sunburning to death and so on. Whether corporal punishment is used or disguised corporal punishment, this crime can be established. Thirdly, there must be the act of extorting a confession by torture, that is, forcing the criminal suspect and defendant to make the confession expected by the perpetrator. Inducing confessions and ordering confessions are wrong interrogation methods, but they are not extorting confessions by torture.
3. Main elements.
The subject of this crime is a special subject, that is, judicial staff. Extorting a confession by torture is a criminal activity carried out by the actor in the process of criminal proceedings, and only judicial personnel who have the right to handle criminal cases can constitute the subject.
4. Subjective factors.
Subjectively, this crime can only be intentional and has the purpose of extorting a confession by torture. Whether the actor obtains a confession or not, and whether the confession of the suspect and the defendant conforms to the facts will not affect the establishment of this crime. If the perpetrator uses corporal punishment or corporal punishment in disguised form against the criminal suspect or defendant for other purposes, it does not constitute this crime. The criminal motive does not affect the establishment of this crime. In judicial practice, some people argue that the criminal motive is open (for example, to close the case quickly), so it should not be punished as a crime; The criminal motive is private (for example, for revenge), so it should be punished as a crime. We think this view is inappropriate. Whether for public or private purposes, the act of extorting confessions by torture infringes on the personal rights of others and is socially harmful to crime. The above different motives can only affect sentencing, but not conviction.
Legal basis: Article 247 of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC). Judicial personnel who extort confessions from criminal suspects or defendants by torture or force witnesses to testify shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention. Whoever causes disability or death shall be convicted and given a heavier punishment in accordance with the provisions of Articles 234 and 232 of this Law.