Abstract: Discussion on the question whether the act of doing nothing to save somebody from danger should be criminalized involves the complicated relation between the law and ethics, and the latter should be judged in combination of appreciation of specific situation of a certain era. Even if we want to strengthen morals by the law, punishment should be used in conjunction with encouragement and attention paid to making wise use of the encouragement function of the law. Regarding the question whether the act of doing nothing to save somebody from danger should be criminalized, the difference between the structure of criminal law of China and that of western countries decides that we should not simply transplant the offense of doing nothing to save somebody from danger in western jurisdictions and should resolve the question by such approaches as improving the Law on Penalty for Administration of Public Safety.

Keywords: Doing Nothing to Save Somebody from Danger; Structure of Criminal Law; Penalty for Administration of Public Safety

Published in Law Science Magazine, 2013, Vol.4