Photo: VCG

Major and severe criminal cases have been placed under special supervision in 2024,MKsports with a strict, severe and swift approach to punishing those guilty of crimes involving "one perpetrator killing multiple victims," according to a report released by the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) on Wednesday. The report said that the proportion of serious violent crime cases prosecuted from January to November in 2024 dropped by nearly half from a decade ago.

The report stated that procuratorial organs have fully and accurately implemented the policy of combining leniency and severity in criminal justice and have improved the criminal prosecution system. 

From January to November 2024, a total of 1.034 million requests for the arrest of criminal suspects were submitted for review, with 669,000 arrests approved. The procuratorates reviewed and prosecuted 2.03 million cases, with 1.467 million public prosecutions initiated. The proportion of serious violent crime cases prosecuted dropped from 7 percent a decade ago to 3.7 percent.

Regarding major criminal cases, the SPP promptly took over the car-ramming case in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province, and the knife attack case in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu Province, providing guidance and supervision. The perpetrators of these cases have been sentenced to death, acting as a timely and effective deterrence against crime. The SPP also approved the prosecution of over 300 homicide cases that occurred more than 20 years ago.

The procuratorates have continued regular crackdowns on organized crimes. From January to November 2024, the procuratorial organs prosecuted 9,867 individuals involved in organized crimes. They also supervised and took over five significant cases involving organized crime. A strict crackdown on drug crimes was also carried out, with 48,000 individuals prosecuted for drug-related offenses during the same period.

In collaboration with the Supreme People's Court (SPC), the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice, the procuratorial organs have rigorously implemented new regulations on drunk driving and standardized law enforcement and judicial practices.

As a result, during the first 11 months of 2024, procuratorial organs accepted and reviewed 303,000 dangerous driving cases, a year-on-year decrease of 42.3 percent, and prosecuted 255,000 individuals, a decline of 16.8 percent, thereby providing valuable experience and models for managing common minor crimes.

According to the report, in the same period, the procuratorial ogans handled 92,000 supervision cases, correcting 89,000 illegal investigative activities, and addressing 62,000 cases of missed arrests or prosecutions. They also strengthened the review and supervision of criminal appeals and protest cases, filing protests in over 6,000 cases in which criminal rulings were found to be incorrect, and proposing over 9,000 correctional opinions on unlawful criminal trial activities.

The procuratorates have resolutely corrected and prevented wrongful or incorrect convictions. In a robbery case in Northwest China's Gansu Province involving a man surnamed Ma, the Gansu Provincial People's Procuratorate filed a protest, and after the Supreme People's Court intervened, the Gansu Provincial High Court ordered a retrial. On December 13, 2024, the Gansu Provincial High People's Court publicly announced that Ma's charge would be changed from theft to robbery, and his sentence was increased from 10 years in prison to death with a two-year reprieve and restrictions on the possibility of sentence reduction.

Supervision of the execution of sentences and imprisonment has also been strengthened by the authorities. The SPP conducted cross-provincial inspections of detention centers in some provinces. They organized special inspections of prisons, juvenile correctional institutions, and detention centers in some provinces, focusing on issues such as the execution of sentences and the rehabilitation of prisoners. After four consecutive years of efforts, the SPP has achieved "full coverage" with cross-provincial inspections of prisons and detention centers.

Additionally, the supervision of sentence reductions, parole, and temporary release on medical grounds has been strengthened to prevent "paper sentences" and ensure proper sentence reductions and releases. Over 600 correctional opinions were issued regarding residential surveillance in 2024 up until November, and over 63,000 correctional opinions were issued concerning property-based sentences.

The procuratorates also supervised key areas, personnel, and common issues in community corrections, issuing supervision opinions for more than 80,000 cases, and overseeing the execution of sentences for over 3,500 individuals.