BEIJING - China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) has urged prosecutorial authorities to strictly punish crimes that have sparked strong public concern, such as human trafficking and endangering workplace safety, in accordance with the law.

At a national conference of chief prosecutors held on Monday in Beijing, the SPP emphasized the need for the swift arrest and prosecution of individuals involved in severe violent crimes, including individual extreme violent crimes, to impose stringent punishments that deter crime and reassure the public.

Authorities are instructed to maintain a regular crackdown on organized crime and to strictly punish other offenses that provoke intense public reaction, including crimes involving guns or explosives, pornography, gambling, drugs, robbery, theft, fraud, and endangering workplace safety.

The SPP also outlined measures to punish cyberbullying and to crack down on illegal activities that infringe on personal information.

Regarding juvenile justice, the SPP called for collaborative efforts to establish a tiered intervention and correction system for juvenile offenses. It also urged improvements to the mechanism for reviewing and prosecuting serious violent crimes committed by very young minors.

Economic crimes 

SPP has urged procuratorial organs across the country to take a strong stance on serious economic crimes to contribute to a law-based business environment.

Crimes such as the smuggling of strategic minerals overseas should be cracked down on harshly to safeguard China's strategic interests, according to the SPP at a national conference of chief procurators on Monday.

It stressed the importance of coordinating work with the National Financial Regulatory Administration and other authorities to address illegal intermediary practices in the financial sector, and of handing down harsh punishments for crimes such as illegal fundraising and financial fraud to ensure the sound operation of the financial system and protect the safety of people's property.

The SPP called for more efforts to combat money laundering, with a focus on punishing such crimes conducted through underground banks or virtual currencies.

Coordination with the China Securities Regulatory Commission should also be strengthened to advance the rule of law in the capital market with harsh punishments for securities crimes such as financial fraud and market manipulation, the SPP said.

Emerging crimes 

China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) highlighted more law-based and coordinated governance of emerging crimes with tighter administrative and criminal penalties at a national meeting of high court presidents held in Beijing on Monday.

As crimes committed using internet information technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, tend to be more covert, malicious in intent, and socially harmful, such crimes should be punished more strictly to promote fairness and justice, the SPC said in a statement.

While cracking down hard on high-tech professional criminal gangs and crimes carried out through online coordination, courts should also thoroughly expose criminal methods, nature and harm to better educate and warn the public, the SPC said.

Noting that overall criminal cases are on a downward trend with serious crimes decreasing and minor crimes increasing, the SPC said criminal justice policy must be more targeted.