The decision not to prosecute does not count as a criminal penalty: Criminal penalties can only be made by the court, and the decision not to prosecute is made by the procuratorate and does not count as a criminal penalty.
Article 177 of the "Criminal Procedure Law" If the criminal suspect has no criminal facts or one of the circumstances stipulated in Article 16 of this Law, the People's Procuratorate shall make a decision not to prosecute.
For cases where the crime is minor and does not require a penalty or is exempted from penalty in accordance with the criminal law, the People's Procuratorate may decide not to prosecute.
If the People’s Procuratorate decides not to prosecute a case, it shall also lift the seizure, seizure, and freezing of the property seized, detained, and frozen during the investigation. If the complainant needs to be given administrative sanctions, penalties or illegal income confiscated, the People's Procuratorate shall issue a procuratorial opinion and transfer it to the relevant competent authority for handling. The relevant competent authorities shall promptly notify the People's Procuratorate of the handling results.
"People's Procuratorate Criminal Procedure Rules (Trial)" Article 286: If the People's Procuratorate, after investigation, believes that the criminal facts are clear, the evidence is reliable and sufficient, and criminal liability should be investigated according to law, it shall write down Final investigation report and prosecution opinions.
For cases where the crime is minor and does not require a penalty or exemption from penalty in accordance with the criminal law, an investigation conclusion report should be written and a non-prosecution opinion should be prepared.
The investigation conclusion report and the opinion on prosecution or non-prosecution shall be reviewed by the person in charge of the investigation department and submitted to the chief prosecutor for approval.
Article 287: If an opinion of prosecution or non-prosecution is made, the investigation department shall submit the opinion of prosecution or non-prosecution, the criminal suspect’s property, interests, and documents that have been sealed, seized, or frozen. The list, as well as the case file materials such as the seized, seized, frozen money and property, shall be submitted to the Public Prosecution Department of this court for review. If national or collective property suffers losses, civil litigation opinions may be filed at the same time as public prosecution opinions.
Extended information:?
Conditions for non-prosecution:?
There are three situations of non-prosecution in our country. Non-prosecution where criminal liability is not investigated according to law can be called Non-prosecution is a statutory non-prosecution; non-prosecution where there is no need to impose a penalty or exemption from punishment according to law can be called discretionary non-prosecution; non-prosecution where there is insufficient evidence can be called doubtful non-prosecution.
(1) Statutory non-prosecution, also known as absolute non-prosecution, the specific conditions are:?
1. The criminal suspect’s behavior does not constitute a crime in law or the evidence is sufficient to prove the crime. It was not committed by the criminal suspect;?
2. The circumstances are obviously minor and the social harm is not great, so it is not considered a crime;?
3. The crime has passed the prosecution period;?
4. Those who have been exempted from punishment after being pardoned; ?
5. For crimes that were handled only upon complaint in accordance with the criminal law, no complaint was made or the complaint was withdrawn; ?
6. The suspect died;?
7. Those who are exempted from criminal liability under other legal provisions.
(2) Discretionary non-prosecution, also known as relative non-prosecution and misdemeanor non-prosecution. If the crime is minor and does not require a penalty or exemption from penalty in accordance with the criminal law, the People's Procuratorate may decide not to prosecute.
(3) No prosecution if there is doubt, also known as no prosecution if there is insufficient evidence. For cases under supplementary investigation, if the People's Procuratorate still believes that the evidence is insufficient and does not meet the conditions for prosecution, it may make a decision not to prosecute. This kind of "no prosecution if there is doubt" is consistent with the idea of ??"no prosecution if there is doubt", embodies the spirit of Article 12 of the "Criminal Procedure Law", and is conducive to the protection of human rights.
Chinese People's Congress--Criminal Procedure Law
Shizuishan City People's Procuratorate--People's Procuratorate Criminal Procedure Rules (Trial)