Understanding of the criminal policy of “Both bribery and graft will be punished together” and governance strategy:According to the Amendment of Article 390 of the Criminal Law

Abstract

The criminal policy of “Both bribery and graft will be punished together” has problems of understanding and application in judicial practice. The criminal policy of “Both bribery and graft will be punished together” is not equal to “both bribery-takers and bribery-givers are heavily punished”, and the judicial practice should focus on the investigation and punishment of active bribery rather than the punishment. The results of empirical analyses reveal the contradiction between judicial practice and criminal legislation, and the implementation of policies should pay attention to the dilemmas existing in judicial practice. China wants to effectively punish bribery offenses, that is, we should correctly understand the criminal policy of “Both bribery and graft will be punished together”, and we should adhere to the governance idea of “strict but not stern” for crime of offering bribes, and adopt the governance strategy of strictly investigating bribery and severely punishing those who accept bribes should be adopted in judicial practice.