Research on the Prevention and Control of Self-Money-Laundering in the Digital Age

The development of virtual currencies,network banking,and artificial intelligence technologies facilitates the implementation and completion of self-money laundering in crimes involving embezzlement and bribery.Amendment XI to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China lists self-money laundering as a separate money laundering crime,breaking the restrictive framework that it must be committed by someone else.This is reflective of the specific interest that China has in anti-money laundering.The criminalization of self-money laundering has been adopted as a powerful legal weapon against money laundering.However,it has confronted a series of dilemmas in terms of specific judicial applications.To gradually address the dilemmas in applying the clause,a comprehensive consideration of Chinese judicial and anti-money laundering practices,as well as international anti-money laundering regulations and practices,is carried out.Moreover,the following recommendations are given:that the protection of legal interests concerning self-money laundering should be expanded appropriately;that a penalty and cooperation system should be established for the crime of self-money laundering;and that the scope of the means of self-money laundering should be extended.

An Utilitarianist Reading of Criminal Law

Utilitarianism is the branch of philosophy that studies the usefulness of an idea. Among the possible gains and losses, the balance must be positive to reach the intended utility. Criminal law is the most repressive branch of legal system and therefore should be applied sparingly by the state. Its usefulness should be the protection of legal interests and minimal restriction of personal liberty. The lawmaker should seek the best way to achieve this utility with the choice of the most relevant legal interests and less repressive means before appealing to the criminal law. The legal interests protected by criminal law must be the most important ones for a social life in harmony and prohibited behaviors must be injurious or dangerous to those legal interests. The Rule of Law does not authorize criminal prohibitions without a minimum limit that allows citizens to behave according to their wishes, provided that does not harm the interests of other people. This is the calculation that legislator, judge, and interpreter should seek： more protection and less restriction to citizens.

Criteria for determining illegality and the theory of anti-value acts （Handlungsunwert）： with a discussion of the standpoint of contemporary Chinese criminal jurisprudence

The doctrine of illegality serves as a touchstone of criminal law theory, and research into the criteria for determining illegality is of great significance for promoting debate between different schools of thought and for the overall development of Chinese criminal jurisprudence. The theories of anti-value consequences （Erfolgsunwert） and anti-value acts （Handlungsunwert） take different approaches to thinking about the issue of illegality, leading to differences in the scope of establishing what constitutes a crime, the process of determining whether a crime has been committed, the relationship between crime and punishment and the correlation between criminal law and society. The （dualistic） theory of anti-value acts takes into full consideration the social reality and normative anticipations of a given period and gives due weight to the function of criminal law in guiding behavior; it is therefore a rational theory. According to this view of illegality, the act is the core issue determining illegality; infringement of legal interests is simply an element determining the ＂nature of the act.＂ Criminal law does not exist only to provide restitution for injury, but also aims to cultivate citizens＇ consciousness of norms to prevent possible future injury. Contemporary criminal jurisprudence in China should be constructed on the basis of the （dualistic） theory of anti-value acts with a view to responding to the needs of society and promoting normative identification on the part of the general public.