On the Application of "Knowledge" and Its Improvement in the Offence of Helping Information Network Criminal Activities - Taking Mainland China as an Example

Jiongkun Li

doi:10.54254/2753-7048/2025.26599

Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public MediaOpen access

On the Application of "Knowledge" and Its Improvement in the Offence of Helping Information Network Criminal Activities - Taking Mainland China as an Example

Research Article

Open Access

On the Application of "Knowledge" and Its Improvement in the Offence of Helping Information Network Criminal Activities - Taking Mainland China as an Example

Jiongkun Li ^1*

¹ Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications

^*Corresponding author: 1159949120@qq.com

Published on 9 September 2025

LNEP Vol.121

ISSN (Print): 2753-7056

ISSN (Online): 2753-7048

ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-373-4

ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-374-1

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Abstract

In view of the high incidence of information network crimes, the Amendment (IX) to the Criminal Law of mainland China added the offence of aiding information network criminal activities, aiming at cutting off the chain of cybercrime and preventing information network crimes. However, in judicial practice, there are great differences in the determination standard of "knowledge", which has become a key difficulty in the judgement of crime and non-crime. In this regard, the presumption of "knowledge" should be explicitly adopted, and the subjective knowledge of the perpetrator should be presumed through the basic facts, in order to cope with the difficulty of obtaining evidence. At the same time, the term "knowingly" should be interpreted as meaning that the perpetrator clearly recognised or should have known of the unlawfulness of the act of assistance, rather than generalising it to mean that he or she "may have known". In addition, it is not appropriate to mechanically equate the object of knowledge - "another person using information network to commit a crime" - with a completed offence in the sense of a sub-rule of the Criminal Law. Instead, it should be based on the logic of criminalisation of the act, adopt independent judgment, emphasise the ambiguity of the perpetrator's cognition of the improper act and causal foresight, so as to achieve a balance between combating crime and safeguarding rights, and maintain the principle of modesty of criminal law.

Keywords:

offence of helping letter, knowledge, judicial determination, subjective intention

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References

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[9]. Zhou Weiping. The identification mode and rule construction of "knowing" fact under the view of argumentation [J]. Law Application, 2023(7): 65-77.

References

[2]. Chen Ruihua. On presumption in criminal law [J]. Law, 2015(5): 105-116.

[6]. Wu Hongqi. Normative Review and Generalisation Correction of the Knowledge Determination Rule for the Crime of Helping Trust [J]. Jurisprudence Forum, 2025, 40(2): 17-27.

[8]. Yao Wanqin. A doctrinal analysis of the determination of "knowledge" in the crime ofhelping information network criminal activities [J]. Criminal Law Review, 2025, 24(1): 50-65.

[9]. Zhou Weiping. The identification mode and rule construction of "knowing" fact under the view of argumentation [J]. Law Application, 2023(7): 65-77.

Cite this article

Li,J. (2025). On the Application of "Knowledge" and Its Improvement in the Offence of Helping Information Network Criminal Activities - Taking Mainland China as an Example. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,121,1-5.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on International Law and Legal Policy

ISBN: 978-1-80590-373-4(Print) / 978-1-80590-374-1(Online)

Editor: Renuka Thakore

Conference website: https://2025.icillp.org/

Conference date: 21 November 2025

Series: Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media

Volume number: Vol.121

ISSN: 2753-7048(Print) / 2753-7056(Online)

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