The fight against crime is more than a special action.

The “cage girl” incident in Yulin, Shaanxi Province has once again aroused public attention to the problem of abduction and trafficking of women and children. But this time, the Ministry of public security responded with action - from March 1 to December 31, it will launch a special action to combat the crime of trafficking in women and children.

According to the requirements of the teleconference on mobilization and deployment held for the special action on March 2, the national public security organs should take the special action against the crime of trafficking in women and children as the key task of this year, and quickly set off a new upsurge in the fight against the crime of trafficking in women and children, “Quickly investigate and solve the current cases of trafficking, make every effort to solve the accumulated cases of trafficking, severely punish a group of criminals of trafficking, rescue a group of abducted women and children, resolutely eradicate the breeding soil of trafficking, and establish and improve the integrated working mechanism of prevention, crackdown, assistance and resettlement”.

At present, the crime of abducting and trafficking in women and children is still rampant, which will not only cause great harm to the abducted women and children and their families, but also undermine the harmony and stability of the country and society.

This is not only a social problem, but also a serious criminal crime from the perspective of legal regulation.

From the perspective of the provisions of the criminal law, for the purpose of selling, one of the acts of abducting, kidnapping, buying, trafficking, picking up and transferring women and children can be defined as abducting and trafficking in women and children.

In addition, the criminal law also establishes a separate crime of buying abducted women and children, hoping to jointly establish a criminal legal framework to prevent such crimes.

From the perspective of legal provisions, although the definition of this crime is very clear, there are still many practical problems in the practical application of the law. Coupled with other subjective and objective factors, this kind of crime continues to be banned repeatedly.

The main reason is that there is still a large buyer’s market for trafficking in women and children. In particular, the difference in the proportion of men and women in China is gradually widening. Coupled with the practical pressure of marriage bride price, house purchase and car purchase, it is becoming more and more difficult to marry a daughter-in-law in many rural or remote areas where family conditions are not optimistic. In rural and remote areas where traditional customs such as raising children to prevent old age and carrying on the family line are widespread, many families solve their problems by buying wives and children.

This bad habit coincides with the seller for the purpose of obtaining money, forming a huge market for abducting and selling women and children.

In May 2021, an express delivery network in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province used “family seeking tape” in soliciting mail. These specially customized tapes are printed with photos and relevant information of lost children.

In reality, the concealment of the crime of abducting and trafficking in women and children is becoming stronger and stronger, and the means are more diversified, changing from single abduction and theft to kidnapping, anesthesia, robbery and other means.

In judicial practice, there are many buyers who buy abducted women and children through acquaintances. They have a tacit understanding with each other, whether they adopt children or buy “daughter-in-law”. In order to achieve their own purpose, the buyers usually don’t easily explain their family when facing the investigation and interrogation of the public security organ, which also brings great resistance to the relevant investigation.

In addition to remote areas and rural areas, transnational and cross-border cases of trafficking in women and children also happen frequently. Such crimes often appear as gang cases, and the division of labor among the members is clear, forming a pattern of “Dragons”, including “trick, buy, pick up, transfer, sell”, involving wide geographical area and large span of time, even engaging in census, registered residence, It is more difficult for public health personnel to act as a propeller to solve cases.

It is reported that the Ministry of public security has led the establishment of a special action leading group to crack down on the crime of trafficking in women and children. It can be predicted that with the launch of the special activities of the national public security organs to crack down on the crime of trafficking in women and children and the introduction of relevant policies, the criminal activities of trafficking in women and children in China may be effectively curbed.

However, after the special action, how to convict the buyer and the seller, especially the buyer, is still a difficult problem. In recent years, many experts and scholars advocate increasing the conviction and sentencing of the crime of buying and selling abducted women and children. They believe that only by increasing the punishment, can the crime be restrained to the greatest extent.

In this regard, the author has different views. The crime of abducting and trafficking in women and children usually involves many participants, different roles and division of labor, complex motives of buyers and great differences in situations. There are also great differences in the future lives of abducted women and children.

The simple emphasis on “the same crime of buying and selling” seems to have a certain practical rationality, but the excessive punishment is still difficult to “end” the buyer’s demand, which may also stimulate the buyer to take risks to hide the facts of the crime, and even “force” him to increase the restriction on the personal freedom of abducted women and children for fear of exposing the criminal behavior, And affect the rescue of abducted women and children by public security organs.

Stills of the film blind mountain.

Therefore, in practice, public security organs and judicial organs need to pay attention to the particularity of the case when handling the case, be lenient and strict in sentencing, reflect the criminal policy of Combining Leniency with severity, and realize the organic unity of political effect, legal effect and social effect.

For the buyer, if there is no abuse, restriction of personal freedom, rape and other acts on the bought women and children and does not hinder the rescue, he can be given a lighter or even exempted from punishment. On the contrary, in addition to investigating their criminal responsibility for the crime of “buying abducted women and children”, they also need to be punished for several crimes, such as abuse, illegal detention, rape, intentional injury and so on.

At the same time, we should not only focus on the sentencing in the criminal law, but also clarify the legal responsibilities of traffickers, buyers and intermediaries through detailed provisions. We should not only start from the “trafficking” at the source and the “buying” at the end of the crackdown on abduction according to law, It can also formulate a charge similar to the crime of “helping to commit crimes of information network crime”, “helping to destroy or fabricate evidence”, and help to provide accurate “conviction” such as “birth certificate”, “registered residence certificate” and “marriage certificate” to help the “accomplices” to be proved by the abduction and sale of women and children. So as to comprehensively improve the punishment of trafficking in women and children.

Only by implementing the criminal policy of tempering justice with mercy and accurately applying the law can the dual functions of punishment and relief be realized.

In the author’s opinion, the life of the law lies in the implementation, and the deterrent power of the penalty comes not only from its harshness, but also from solving the problem of abduction and trafficking