寻衅滋事罪规制散布“虚假信息”行为的可行性分析

Regulating Behaviors of Spreading “False Information”:The Feasibility of Applying the Crime of Provocation

针对在网络上散布"虚假信息"、扰乱公共秩序的行为,2013年9月6日两高联合发布的《关于办理利用信息网络实施诽谤等刑事案件适用法律若干问题的解释》规定依照寻衅滋事罪定罪处罚;2015年11月1日生效施行的《刑法修正案(九)》专门增设了编造、故意传播虚假信息罪。编造、故意传播虚假信息罪的设立并不意味着寻衅滋事罪完全丧失规制散布"虚假信息"行为的功能。寻衅滋事罪构成要件相当程度的明确性,罪刑法定原则在网络时代的自身"救赎"以及对言论自由的相对性能够消除本罪适用中的观念障碍。承认网络空间是公共场所,并对寻衅滋事罪第4类行为中前后"公共场所"做不同的理解,可以消除其中的技术障碍。

Behaviors of spreading false information online and disturbing public order are deemed as a crime of provocation,according to the 'Interpretations of Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in the Handling of Defamation through Information Networks and Other Criminal Cases' issued by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on September 6th,2013.The 9th Amendment to Criminal Law which came into force on November 1th,2015 set a new crime name of Crime of Fabricating and Propagating False Information.This new crime name nevertheless,does not mean that the Crime of Provocation loses its role in regulating spreading false information online.The conceptual obstacles in applying the Crime of Provocation will be resolved by the certainty of its composition elements,self-redemption of the principle of 'Nulla Poena Sine Lege' in the era of internet,and relativity of freedom expression.The technical obstacles would also be cleared by admitting the internet as public place and interpreting 'public space' in the 4th catalog of behaviors differently.