Consulting on the draft revised Penal Code to promote democracy

Deputy Minister Dinh Trung Tung emphasized that maximizing people's intelligence will result in a quality and effective Penal Code.

The draft Penal Code (amended) was put out for public consultation, starting from July 15 to September 14, 2015. After the Constitution and the Civil Code (amended), this is the third time a draft law has been put out for public consultation, demonstrating the importance of the law to society as well as promoting democracy and collective intelligence to meet the requirements of the current period. Deputy Minister of Justice Dinh Trung Tung answered an interview on this issue.

Deputy Minister of Justice Dinh Trung Tung

PV:Sir, could you tell us the importance of the Penal Code (amended) as well as the reason for seeking public opinion on this Bill?

Deputy Minister Dinh Trung Tung: The decision to collect public opinions on the Draft Revised Penal Code is decided by the National Assembly. The National Assembly assigns the Government to collect public opinions within 2 months, before the 10th session for consideration. If favorable, it will be promulgated.

The public consultation on the Penal Code (amended) is similar to the previous consultation on the Civil Code (amended) because it is of great importance. This is a comprehensive, fundamental revised Code, the scope of which is related to all people and the whole society. Therefore, promoting democracy and maximizing collective intelligence is very necessary to have a comprehensive, fundamentally revised Penal Code, meeting the requirements of socio-economic development of the country and meeting the requirements of crime prevention.

Therefore, it must be determined that this is also a period of extensive political activities. In the Resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Government's plan clearly assigns the responsibilities of central agencies as well as localities, to organize carefully and honestly and fully reflect the opinions of the people so that the Government can synthesize, report to the National Assembly, focus on editing, and submit to the National Assembly for consideration and approval.

PV:What are the notable points of the contents brought out for public consultation and what impact do they have on this draft Code, sir?

Deputy Minister Dinh Trung Tung: 8 contents in Appendix 1 according to the Government's plan to solicit public opinion. These are issues with different opinions. Each issue has 2 or 3 types of opinions and in the Government's plan for this appendix, each type of opinion is clearly analyzed, why this opinion is supported, why that opinion is supported, also to provide full information for people to refer to.

These are all major issues, many of which are new and will directly affect the draft of the Code. If resolved well, there will be a quality Penal Code that meets the general requirements of the country today and in the future.

PV:So, after the Constitution and the Civil Code, this is the third time that public opinion has been collected. Based on previous experiences, what are the notable points to note this time to make the public opinion collection better, sir?

Deputy Minister Dinh Trung Tung: In my opinion, the public consultation on the 2013 Constitution and the recent Civil Code basically met the requirements. But for the Constitution and the Civil Code, the consultation period was quite long. This time, the Penal Code only had 2 months, so we must be very urgent and the requirement is to ensure the quality and effectiveness of this organization. Because if not done well, it will be costly and wasteful without achieving the set goals.

Therefore, this is also the work of the entire political system. With the active and voluntary participation and involvement of the people, I believe that although it is a short time, this consultation session will certainly have good results./.

PV: Thank you./.

The content of public consultation includes the entire draft of the Penal Code (amended), focusing on issues such as: criminal responsibility of legal entities and types of crimes for which legal entities are criminally responsible; scope of criminal responsibility of minors and alternative measures for criminal handling applicable to minors who commit crimes; conversion of fines and non-custodial reform into fixed-term imprisonment...

The contents of abolishing the death penalty for some crimes; regulations on not applying the death penalty, not carrying out the death sentence in some cases; regulations on not reducing the sentence for those sentenced to death but having their sentence commuted to life imprisonment were also consulted...

People can give comments directly or in writing; or at conferences, seminars, and forums; through the Ministry of Justice's electronic information portal and other appropriate forms.

According to VOV.VN