BEIJING: China has registered a significant drop in the number of serious violent crimes over the past few years, making it a country with one of the lowest crime rates and strongest sense of security, according to a report.
The Annual Report on Rule of Law in China, which was released on Monday by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Law, said the number of felonies including intentional homicide and gun violence continued to decline last year, while other crimes related to national security or involving drugs were effectively controlled.
The number of people charged with serious violent crimes plummeted to 61,000 in 2023 from 162,000 in 1999, the report said, noting that 9,171 people were prosecuted for offenses related to guns or explosions last year, down 11.09 percent compared with 2022.
At the same time, the percentage of offenders sentenced to three years or less in prison for minor crimes among the total number of offenders rose from 54.4 percent in 1999 to 82.3 percent in 2023, the report said. In China, a prison term of three years or less is generally considered misdemeanor.
“These figures demonstrate that China is one of the countries with the lowest crime rate and the strongest sense of security in the world,” said Zhang Zhigang, an associate research fellow at the institute.
“They also mean that China’s crime structure is facing a shift toward misdemeanor and its social governance is entering a new stage,” he added. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
