Crime of gathering people to plunder

The crime of gathering people to rob (Article 268 of the Criminal Law) refers to the act of gathering people to rob public or private property, with a large amount or serious circumstances.

Second, the composition of the crime

(A) the object elements

The object of this crime is the ownership of public and private property. Article 12 of our Constitution stipulates: "Socialist public property is sacred and inviolable. The state protects socialist public property. It is forbidden for any organization or individual to occupy or destroy state and collective property by any means. " Article 13 stipulates that "the state protects citizens' lawful income, savings, house ownership and other lawful property". Therefore, it is of far-reaching social significance to use legal weapons to combat the crime of looting public and private property.

The object of this crime is all kinds of public and private property. The so-called property is the material expression of socialist property relations. Public and private property is generally property with economic value, but the nature of the property is not specified. Property can be divided into movable property and immovable property. Generally speaking, movable property is undoubtedly the object of this crime. Movable property covers a wide range, including all movable means of production and consumption, such as machinery and equipment, cattle and horses, raw materials, daily necessities and so on. The movable parts of real estate, such as doors and windows on houses, fruits on fruit trees, deeds to prove the real right of real estate, etc., belong to the scope of movable property. Whether real estate can be the object of this crime is controversial. Robbery of property refers to the transfer of property from the control of the owner and the custodian to the hands of the robber. Real estate cannot be transferred in the above way, but the possibility of greedy motives infringing on real estate cannot be ruled out. Like looting fruit forests. Because this law does not explicitly stipulate that robbery is limited to movable property, people who rob real estate can also be convicted of this crime.

(b) objective factors

This crime is objectively manifested as the act of gathering people to plunder public and private property, with a large amount and serious circumstances. The so-called gathering people to rob public and private property means that more than three people unite to rob public and private property in groups. First, it must be "gathering people to plunder." That is to say, in terms of the number of people, it must be more than three, and sometimes it may reach hundreds. Two or less people cannot form a "gathering"; Second, it must be the joint action of actors; Third, the object of looting includes both public property and private property; Fourth, it must be a large amount or serious circumstances to constitute a crime. If the amount is small and the circumstances are minor, even if there is a mob looting, it does not constitute this crime. According to the provisions of this article, gathering people to plunder property, which is relatively large or has other serious circumstances, constitutes this crime for the ringleaders and active participants. If the amount is large, the amount of theft may prevail. "Other serious circumstances" usually refers to a large number of people involved in looting; Looting more important materials; The social impact is very bad; Looting general historical relics; Small amount of looting, but many times, and so on. Other particularly serious circumstances mainly refer to looting important military materials; Snatching emergency rescue, disaster relief, relief, special care and other specific materials; Looting precious unearthed cultural relics; Inciting large-scale and extensive looting activities, causing serious consequences; Huge losses of public and private property caused by looting; Due to looting, large and medium-sized enterprises stopped production or business; Due to robbery, the victim was insane, committed suicide, and so on.

The amount of property infringement is an important factor to determine the degree of social harm. Therefore, it is of great significance to correctly calculate the value of property for conviction and sentencing.

(3) Main elements

The subject of this crime is the general subject, that is, anyone who has reached the age of criminal responsibility and has the ability of criminal responsibility can become the subject of this crime and constitute this crime. Not all the actors involved in the mob looting, only the ringleaders or those who actively participate can become the subject of this crime. "ringleaders" refer to those who play the role of organization, planning and command in gathering people to plunder. "Active participants" generally refer to people who actively put forward ideas, play a leading role in the backbone, and plunder more property in the process of gathering people to plunder.

(4) Subjective factors

Subjectively, this crime is intentional, that is, it has the intention of gathering people to plunder, with the aim of illegally possessing public and private property. For the purpose of illegal possession, including self-possession or possession by a third party. Without the purpose of illegal possession of public or private property, this crime cannot be recognized. In practice, some people have a debt or property dispute with others and use the method of gathering many people to forcibly seize the other party's property to pay off their debts, which can be punished according to this crime.

Third, punishment.

Whoever commits this crime shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also be fined; If the amount is especially huge or the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years and shall also be fined.

IV. Legal and Judicial Interpretation

[Criminal Law Provisions]

Article 268 Whoever gathers people to plunder public or private property, if the amount is relatively large or there are other serious circumstances, the ringleaders and active participants shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also be fined; If the amount is huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years and shall also be fined.

[Relevant laws]

Article 64 of the Railway Law, if people gather to plunder railway transport materials, the ringleaders and backbone elements shall be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the provisions of Articles 151 and 152 of the Criminal Law.

Railway workers who collude with other personnel to commit the crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be given a heavier punishment.

[Judicial interpretation]

The Supreme People's Court {Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Criminal Punishment of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Railway Law of China} (Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa [1993./KLOC-0.165438] No.28)

Four, how to investigate the criminal responsibility of criminals who gather people to plunder railway transportation materials?

The first paragraph of Article 64 of the Railway Law stipulates: "If people gather to plunder railway transportation materials, the ringleaders and backbone elements shall be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the provisions of Article 151 or Article 152 of the Criminal Law."

(1) Where people gather to plunder railway transport materials, the ringleaders and backbone elements shall be investigated for criminal responsibility for looting in accordance with the provisions of Article 151 or Article 152 of the Criminal Law, and generally be given a heavier punishment. Criminals who use violence or threaten violence in the process of robbing railway transportation materials, or use violence or threaten violence on the spot to hide stolen goods, resist arrest or destroy criminal evidence shall be punished as robbery and given a heavier punishment.

(2) The "ringleaders" in the above crimes refer to criminals who play the role of organization, planning and command in the crime of gathering people to plunder railway transportation materials; "backbone elements" refer to criminals who play a major role in the crime of gathering people to plunder railway transport materials, such as those who take the lead in looting railway transport materials and those who plunder a large number of railway transport materials.

Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Laws in the Trial of Criminal Cases of Destruction of Forest Resources (Fa Shi [2000] No.36)

Fourteenth people looting trees more than five cubic meters, belonging to the mob looting "a large amount"; Gathering people to plunder trees for more than 20 cubic meters is a "huge amount". The ringleaders and active participants shall be convicted and punished for the crime of gathering people to illegally cut down trees in accordance with the provisions of Article 268 of the Criminal Law.