In recent years, due to the many violent acts on the Internet, many people have published or sent some unfriendly and hostile information, resulting in the great infringement of others' rights such as personality, reputation and privacy, and some will bring irreparable results. In order to effectively stop the proliferation of "Internet crimes", some legal scholars have proposed that the crime of "incitement to hatred" be included in the Criminal Law, and that acts of hatred and discrimination between races, intentionally or unintentionally, that are not listed in Article 279 of the Civil Code should be criminalized. This proposal has aroused great attention and heated discussions in our country, some people advocate that it is a supplement to the criminal legal system, which will help maintain social order and harmony, but some people say that this move may cause harm to the public's right to express itself and restrict the public. So, is incitement to a hate crime a fundamental principle of criminal law, or is it a means of restricting language?
First, we must understand that "hate speech" refers to "an attack on a person or group of people by communicating them in an insulting or insulting manner, in writing or in their actions." The harmfulness of the discourse of "vendetta" is manifested in the fact that it not only damages the personality and self-esteem of individuals or groups, but also causes social contradictions and contradictions, and endangers national stability. Therefore, regulating it is a basic principle in China's criminal legislation and judicial practice. At present, there are no specific legislative norms in the Penal Code for the offence of incitement to ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination, such as hate language that is specific to gender, age, occupation, geography and religion. This has caused certain gaps and embarrassments in the law, resulting in some criminal suspects being able to escape, while some victims have not received the assistance and protection they deserve.
Second, the phrase "incitement to hatred crimes" was added instead of the existing criminal law provisions such as insult, defamation, and intentional injury. The reason for this is that existing criminal legal norms often require specific harmful consequences or serious danger to society, rather than being limited to verbal expressions. The crime of "incitement to hatred" is characterized by the purpose of curbing the spread and spread of hateful language and preventing it from further spreading damage. The legislative purpose of the crime of "incitement" is not to punish verbal acts, but to safeguard legal interests. Therefore, the establishment of the crime of "inciting hatred and affection" should be premised on the "verbal effect", rather than the content of the "verbal act". To be established, a crime of incitement to emotion must be significantly seditious and have the ability to arouse social resentment. Only in this way can excessive restrictions on speech be reduced in a certain sense and people's freedom of speech guaranteed.
Fourth, the conditions and standards for the application of the crime of "inciting hatred" should be well grasped to prevent the improper use of the crimes of "instigation" and "incitement to hatred". The offence of "incitement to hatred" is a specialized offence that is not designed to completely eradicate malicious language, but is designed for specific situations. In practice, it is necessary to distinguish between hateful language and critical language, between provocative language and expressive language, and between "circumstances" and "less serious circumstances". We should fully respect the people's right to expression, diversify public issues, and pay full attention to various opinions and propositions. A reasonable balance should be sought, between the protection of rights and interests and the protection of freedom, so as to make China's criminal legislation more rational and humane.