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Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the world at the end of 2019, the people of the whole country have been floating, surviving, struggling and adapting to the epidemic prevention activities that are tight and loose, near and far, peaceful and abrupt. However, as the work of epidemic prevention has become routine, people have also found that various illegal and criminal activities related to epidemic prevention have become more and more intense and emerge in endlessly.

On May 20, a girl from Zhengzhou University jumped over the wall and went out on a date with her boyfriend late at night, infecting Xinguan. As a result, 5000 people in the school were isolated. Since May 21, Beijing Pushi medical laboratory Co., Ltd., Beijing jinzhun medical laboratory Co., Ltd. and Beijing Zhongtong LANBO medical laboratory have been suspected of violating laws and crimes in the process of nucleic acid detection, and the public security organ has filed a case. On June 14, the "Paradise supermarket bar" in Beijing triggered a massive epidemic, which has been filed for investigation by relevant local departments.

At present, many we media analyze the possible charges and legal liabilities of these illegal and criminal acts from various angles, but these analyses are almost all based on the assumptions and guesses made by the official simple notification and a large number of online rumors. Without sufficient and accurate evidence, it is impossible to give a clear and complete legal judgment, which will undoubtedly make most readers confused and at a loss.

In fact, although the illegal and criminal problems in epidemic prevention activities have certain particularity, it is reasonable to have a large number of them in the epidemic prevention environment, which is also the inevitable result of social development.

1、 Incentives for illegal and criminal acts in epidemic prevention.

During the epidemic prevention and control period, some social contradictions and disputes may be on the rise and become the fuse of epidemic related crimes. These contradictions and disputes include family disputes, property disputes, contract disputes, investment disputes, etc. It can be seen from typical cases that during the epidemic period, epidemic prevention staff should perform their duties of safeguarding public security, but the general public yearns for freedom. Of course, we can't deny that in the epidemic prevention and control, the epidemic prevention personnel in some places turned the "hard core" anti epidemic behavior into "hard work", embarked on the extreme of being simple, rude and overcorrected, and aroused the strong indignation of the local people. In addition, during the epidemic prevention and control period, some lawless elements tried every means to seek improper economic benefits. For example, they took advantage of the fact that the residents had more free time during the epidemic period and became more dependent on the Internet to implement online fraud. Or use the large market demand for masks and other living materials during the epidemic period to produce unqualified masks for huge profits. If these conflicts and contradictions can not be resolved in time, it is likely to threaten social stability and security.

(picture from the network)

2、 Identification and punishment of illegal and criminal acts in epidemic prevention.

Although the work of epidemic prevention has its particularity, it should follow the basic principles of relevant laws and regulations when dealing with relevant criminal cases.

（1） Adhere to the "modesty" of criminal law, and do not arbitrarily expand the interpretation of criminal law because of epidemic prevention.

Modesty is the soul of criminal law and an important criterion to maintain the seriousness, justice, dignity and credibility of criminal law. Because of epidemic prevention, law enforcement officers and counterparts are in a state of physical and mental exhaustion, and excessive language and deformed actions are inevitable in the process of communication. Recently, it was revealed on the Internet that Jiangxi college students who returned to Nanchang from Shanghai were forcibly taken away by law enforcement officers for questioning the price and conditions of isolation hotels. Although the incident was finally properly resolved, it also fully showed that the law enforcement officers abused their power to enforce the law roughly and other illegal and criminal signs.

（2） Adhere to the principle of "sufficient criminal evidence", and do not rush to handle cases because of epidemic prevention.

Sufficient and conclusive evidence is the only criterion for determining whether an act constitutes a crime. The only criterion for determining criminal acts in China's criminal law is that the criminal evidence is indeed sufficient. However, during the epidemic prevention period, due to human resources, urgency, work stress and other reasons, some case handlers will have the mentality of "the general direction is correct, and small defects do not matter", which may miss the best opportunity to investigate and obtain evidence, resulting in evidence defects in case handling, and even the hidden danger of unjust, false and wrong cases.

（3） We should adhere to the "principle of suiting crime to punishment" of the criminal law, and should not increase the punishment of the perpetrator because of epidemic prevention.

3、 Lawyers' attitude to illegal and criminal acts in epidemic prevention.

When dealing with illegal and criminal cases in epidemic prevention work, the lawyer may appear either as a defense lawyer against the mainstream social position or as an agent of the victim. Regardless of their status, lawyers should not forget their original intention and stick to their professional ethics when dealing with illegal and criminal cases in epidemic prevention work.

（1） Uphold the position of the defender and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the suspect from the perspective of innocence or lightness of crime.

As a defender of a suspect, no matter what behavior the suspect has done, or even his behavior may affect himself, such as deliberately poisoning or providing false nucleic acid reports, a lawyer should firmly adhere to the defender's position, and look for space to safeguard the actor's legitimate rights and interests from the perspective of innocence or lightness of crime, so that he can be punished as his crime, and the truly guilty person can plead guilty and be brought to justice, An innocent person is exempt from criminal responsibility.

（2） Insist on giving legal opinions based on evidence, and do not draw conclusions about the behavior of the actor at will.

There is an adage in the legal profession that "judges speak carefully, lawyers are good at arguing", which shows that lawyers have active thinking and sharp words. This statement also tends to lead some young lawyers to talk loudly and aimlessly. In particular, I like to comment on some shadowy events and analyze and comment on cases with various hypothetical conditions, but the results are often quite different from the true trend of the case because I do not have sufficient evidence. Therefore, lawyers should first lay a solid foundation in legal theory, think and verify the cases they handle, clarify the ideas of handling cases according to the evidence, recognize the focus of disputes, and achieve the litigation objectives with reasonable grounds.

（3） We will uphold the interests of the state and the public, and consciously fight against illegal and criminal acts.

The special status of Chinese lawyers requires that Chinese lawyers are not only social legal workers, but also an organic part of the socialist legal system and the construction of the rule of law. Therefore, in the work of epidemic prevention, we should actively participate in various public welfare activities for epidemic prevention and actively participate in the handling of various epidemic prevention cases. While safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the parties, we should not forget to safeguard national interests and social public interests. In the face of the clues we have or know about illegal and criminal acts, we should boldly report to the relevant departments, and consciously fight against various illegal and criminal acts with our own legal knowledge and keen legal thinking.