Regarding illegal drug trafficking, the government said that under current criminal law, the drug-quantity thresholds used to determine sentencing brackets carrying the death penalty are significantly lower than the quantities actually trafficked in many cases.

As a result, once the amount of drugs involved exceeds the threshold for a sentencing bracket that includes the death penalty, offenders may realize that trafficking even larger quantities would not change the applicable sentencing range.

The government said this could create difficulties for efforts to prevent and combat such crimes.

In practice, it added, some offenses continue to develop in a highly complex manner despite relatively high rates of death sentences, including illegal drug trafficking.

The government therefore argued that the effectiveness of preventing and combating such crimes does not depend solely on whether the death penalty is available. Instead, it largely depends on the effectiveness of prevention, detection and enforcement.

For the offense of raping a person under 16, the agency responsible for drafting the legislation agreed on the need to provide special protection for children and impose severe penalties for crimes against them.

However, it said decisions on the scope of capital punishment must also be considered within the broader framework of Vietnam’s criminal justice policy and international obligations.

On that basis, the draft code has been revised to remove the death penalty for the offense while continuing to classify it as a particularly serious crime. The most serious cases would remain punishable by 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.

If the same conduct also constitutes another offense against a person’s life, criminal liability would be determined under the corresponding provisions of the Criminal Code.

The government said the proposed provisions would both protect children and ensure proportionality and consistency in criminal justice policy.

New criminal offenses to be carefully defined

Regarding proposals to introduce new offenses and criminalize new forms of conduct, the government said many opinions were broadly supportive.

Some lawmakers, however, called for a careful assessment of whether the additions were necessary, warning against overly broad criminalization and overlaps between different offenses.

The government said this was one of the important elements of the latest Criminal Code revision.

Its position is that new offenses or forms of criminal conduct should be introduced in response to practical needs and only where the conduct poses significant danger to society and civil, economic or administrative measures are insufficient to prevent or address it.

Any new offense must also have a clear legal basis and precisely defined elements, while maintaining a clear boundary between criminal offenses and administrative violations.

On that basis, the drafting agency has reviewed each proposed offense and form of conduct to ensure there are clear grounds for determining that they pose a danger to society.

The government said the proposed definitions of criminal offenses would be enforceable, establish clear thresholds for criminal liability and remain consistent with specialized legislation.

It added that the provisions would avoid overlaps with administrative violations and would not impede lawful production, business activity or innovation.

Lawmakers urge caution over narrowing death penalty

Presenting the Committee for Legal and Judicial Affairs’ views on the explanations and revisions to the draft amended Criminal Code, committee chairman Phan Chi Hieu said its standing body supported further narrowing the scope of the death penalty.

However, he said careful consideration was needed when determining which offenses should no longer carry capital punishment to avoid adversely affecting deterrence, crime prevention and enforcement, as well as broader crime-fighting objectives in the new period.

He highlighted illegal drug trafficking and rape of a person under 16 as offenses requiring particular consideration.

If significant differences of opinion remain over which offenses should be removed from the scope of the death penalty, the Committee for Legal and Judicial Affairs proposed that the National Assembly Standing Committee seek the views of National Assembly deputies.

Hieu also proposed that, if necessary, the agency responsible for drafting the legislation report the matter to competent authorities for consideration and guidance.

Tran Thuong