The film "Article 20" directed by Zhang Yimou, starring actors Lei Jiayin, Ma Li, Gao Ye, etc., expounded the legitimate defense mechanism stipulated in Article 20 of China's Criminal Law in an artistic way, and the film immediately attracted wide attention from all walks of life after its release. In this film, every plot is like a mirror, reflecting the deep pursuit of justice and the need for self-protection in each of our hearts. The reason we care so much is because this event does happen in our ordinary lives, and while it may seem distant, it can happen to ourselves at any time, so we can easily relate to it.
The film is a string of three stories that prosecutor Han Ming (played by Lei Jiayin) goes through. Han Mingyuan worked as a middle school teacher, and lived alone for a long time after divorcing his wife due to work reasons, and his son Han Yuchen was often with his mother, and encountered many difficulties and setbacks in his life. During Han Ming's temporary position at the Yongen City People's Procuratorate, he wholeheartedly hoped to officially become an employee through the temporary position, so that his son Han Yuchen (played by Liu Yaowen) would have the opportunity to enter a key middle school to study, but this process did not go as expected. After dealing with the relationship with the school leaders, he discovered a secret that had been hidden for many years - his son fell and was disabled on the way to school. In a previous intentional injury case handled by Han Ming, the defendant expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the judicial organ's handling, believing that he was acting in legitimate self-defense rather than intentionally causing injury, so he kept petitioning and appealing. His son doesn't seem to want him to be "worry-free" either. In order to stop the school bullying, he injured the son of the dean of education (played by Zhang Yi), but refused to apologize. Lu Lingling (played by Gao Ye), as a colleague's prosecutor, was replaced by the deputy procurator general and appointed to preside over the controversy and the pressure of major petitions. The effectiveness of the case may affect whether she can be regularized. In the process, he and his wife also experienced a lot of setbacks and helplessness, and finally under the guidance of the principle of "no compromise", they got out of the predicament and got a new life with the attitude of "not giving up justice and not wavering in will". In the face of such "internal and external pressure", Han Ming's future direction has become the focus of everyone's attention.
Facing reality, whether to choose to be obedient or brave to take responsibility is a huge challenge for Han Ming. In this long legal exploration, Han Ming gradually understood that legitimate defense is not to protect faults, but to oneself, to one's family, and to society. This film takes more than two hours to show the implementation process of the justifiable defense system from Han Ming's perspective in depth and systematically, from the initial dare or unwillingness to implement it, to the real change of judicial concept, and the implementation of justifiable defense in accordance with the law to maintain social fairness and justice.
In the 1979 Criminal Code, the system of justifiable self-defense was clarified, and it was pointed out that in order to protect the public interest, the physical and other rights and interests of individuals or others from ongoing unlawful infringement, acts of justifiable self-defense are not subject to criminal liability. This legal principle has played an important role in stopping illegal infringements and protecting the safety of people's lives and property. If the act of justifiable self-defense exceeds the necessary limits and causes unnecessary harm, then the corresponding criminal liability should be borne; Where insufficient legitimate defense causes undue harm, it must not be found that they have not reached the legally-prescribed sentence or the minimum sentence prescribed by law, and criminal punishment is to be waived. However, penalties should be mitigated or waived altogether, as appropriate on the basis of the circumstances. At present, when the public order situation is becoming more and more complicated, criminal activities are constantly increasing, and the masses of the people are urgently demanding to strengthen public security precautions, this legal system is of great significance. In order to encourage citizens to take the initiative in fighting against criminals, to ensure that citizens' personal safety and legitimate rights and interests are effectively protected, and to help deter criminals and maintain social stability, in 1997 China's Criminal Law carried out a series of revisions and improvements to the justifiable defense system. These amendments relax the conditions for the limits of defence, making it clear that if the justifiable defence clearly exceeds the necessary limit and causes significant damage, then it is excessive defence. At the same time, it also stipulates the principle of unlimited defense, that is, for violent crimes that seriously threaten personal safety, unlimited defensive measures can be taken, even if this leads to the unlawful offender, there is no need to bear criminal responsibility. This legislative concept is embodied in judicial practice, which is the so-called "acquittal". Although the 1997 Penal Code provides us with a relatively complete mechanism of justifiable defence, the law itself does not fully bind us, and for a long time it was regarded as an "unenforced provision". In judicial practice, the lack of a clear definition of the boundaries of legitimate defense makes it difficult to determine the extent of responsibility in some cases. In addition to some basic principles that are clearly laid down in the law, cases involving justifiable self-defense are also quite complex in terms of facts and evidence. Many cases are not supported by sufficient evidence. In the film, Wang Yongqiang (played by Pan Binlong), who is suspected of intentional injury, defends himself, claiming to end his life and take a knife in the car. He also noticed the knife in the other party's car, but because the location of the knife was not found for a long time, this led to a great deal of controversy in the judgment of the case. In addition, in real life, there are many misunderstandings and prejudices about legitimate defense. For example, judicial personnel are often afraid to apply traditional judicial concepts because of their constraints. In the movie, Han Ming looked up many cases of intentional injury, and explained to Lu Lingling one by one, "Past cases are determined in this way." "We now have a lot of judges who are reluctant to make such decisions, because our concept has not changed, and in our view, as long as it is justified defense, it should be judged and handled by the judiciary, not by the courts. The views of "the dead are greater", "whoever makes trouble is justified", and "whoever is killed or injured is justified" also objectively have a certain impact on the application of the justifiable defense system. For example, the deceased's behavior of pulling banners and blocking the gate in the film has brought a lot of pressure to the judicial case. In addition, there are also some problems that some judges lack due knowledge and understanding of justifiable defense, and do not take into account the actual application of the justifiable defense system and the degree of acceptance of the system by the public when making specific judgments. While these are artistic representations, they reveal to some extent the challenges of applying justifiable defence in judicial practice.
Each case is unusually heavy, giving people a rather helpless feeling. The judiciary, as the ultimate barrier to ensure social justice and fairness, may lose the support and trust of the population once lost. Fortunately, thanks to a group of prosecutors and police officers such as Han Ming and Lu Lingling, who have always adhered to their original intentions, justice has finally been achieved, and the ** behavior has been duly punished, which makes us find hope in the painful and helpless situation.
February** Dynamic Incentive Program