我国野生动物保护刑事过度化及其合理限控

The Criminal Excessive of Wildlife Protection in China and Its Reasonable Limitation and Control

为了遏制野生动物行政违法刑事化趋势,“两高”2022年出台了新的《关于办理破坏野生动物资源刑事案件适用法律若干问题的解释》,从司法规则层面较好地控制了刑事过度化问题。然而,野生动物保护刑事过度化问题至今依然存在:一是立法过罪化,具体表现为刑事犯罪与行政违法完全重合、刑事立法超越行政立法保护的野生动物范围;二是司法过度化,具体表现为拓宽犯罪行为圈、降低主观明知认定要求、随意扩大对象范围、犯罪标准行政违法化等。刑事过度化产生的根源主要在于治理破坏野生动物资源行为过于依赖刑事手段,司法机关过于注重形式入罪忽略实质出罪,行政前置法规范不完善等。应当通过限缩刑法制裁范围、合理规制犯罪行为、完善野生动物保护法律法规等途径予以解决。

In order to curb the trend of criminalization of wildlife administrative violations,the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate have issued a new“interpretation on the application of laws in handling criminal cases involving destruction of wildlife resources”.This judicial rule has effectively controlled the problem of excessive criminalization.However,issues related to excessive criminalization concerning wildlife protection still persist:firstly,legislative over-criminalization is evident as there is complete overlap between criminal offenses and administrative violations,with criminal legislation surpassing administrative legislation in terms of protecting wildlife;secondly,judicial overreach is observed through broadening the scope of criminal behavior,lowering requirements for subjective knowledge determination,arbitrarily expanding the range of targets,and transforming administrative violations into crimes.The root cause behind this excessive criminalization lies mainly in an over-reliance on punitive measures for addressing actions that harm wildlife resources.Judicial authorities tend to focus excessively on formal prosecution while neglecting substantive punishment.Additionally,inadequate regulations exist regarding administrative preconditions.To address these issues,it is necessary to limit the scope of penal sanctions within criminal law,regulate criminal behaviors reasonably,and improve laws and regulations pertaining to wildlife protection.