Law against ID theft tied to college 'necessary'

A recent scandal in which two individuals in Shandong province have been accused of stealing other people's identities and test scores to get into universities has shocked the nation and prompted national legislators to propose adding a new crime to the country's Criminal Law.

They said it is "necessary" and "urgent" to make it clear that identity theft is a crime, given its harm to society and justice.

Discipline authorities in Shandong on Monday night released the investigative report on two high-profile cases in which two residents in Liaocheng city allegedly stole the identities and scores of two students to enroll in college.

One case occurred in 1996 and the other in 2004. The two victims had no idea that their identities had been stolen and thus lost the chance to obtain higher education. A total of 46 people were held accountable in the two cases, and the province is investigating some similar cases from 1999 to 2006, it said.

However, the punishments, including being expelled from the Communist Party of China, being removed from work posts or having diplomas rescinded, are far from enough, according to national legislators.

"Using others' identities to enter colleges deprives others of the right to receive an education, which seriously damages educational equity and disturbs public order," said Pang Lijuan, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.

She compared the identity theft in college enrollment to "stealing others' futures", saying that people's prospects must be protected by law.

However, identity theft is not yet a crime, "so it's necessary to establish it as a new crime when amending the Criminal Law," Pang said.

Xu Xianming, another national lawmaker, said stealing identities to get into a college goes against the Constitution as receiving education is a basic right granted by the country's fundamental law.

Liu Jixing, also a member of the NPC Standing Committee, said the harm caused by the identity theft is much greater than that of infringing upon property, such as fraud. "What impostors steal are others' life-changing opportunities, especially those from poor or rural families," he said.

They made the remarks during the NPC's latest session, which began on Sunday and ended on Tuesday. During the meeting, a draft revision to the Criminal Law was submitted for first reading.

Since the scandal has drawn so much public attention and ire, many legislators have also called for harsher penalties for such violations.

Li Wei, an NPC Standing Committee member, said he found some 10 crimes that could be related to college identity theft－such as falsifying official documents, bribery and malpractice－after going through the current laws. However, most crimes target government officials and their corruption-related behavior, not impostors and those who offer to assist in the identity thefts, he said.

To more effectively thwart impostors, Zhang Yesui, another NPC Standing Committee member, suggested the top legislature define such behavior as a crime, with offenders facing sentences ranging from three to 10 years in prison.

Ruan Chuansheng, a law professor at the Shanghai Administration Institute, agreed to harshly punish such impostors, but he said that the situations that should be defined as "serious" and the exact penalties for offenders need more study, as such cases involve many complex circumstances.