 |
| Technology engineers participate in a cybersecurity drill in the financial and banking sector __Photo: VNA |
The Ministry of Public Security (MOPS) is currently drafting the revised Penal Code. According to a representative from the ministry, the draft is built upon a comprehensive review of Party guidelines, the relevant regulations, and treaties to which Vietnam is a contracting party. Furthermore, it incorporates lessons learned from more than eight years of implementing the 2015 Penal Code (as revised in 2017 and 2025).
Within this project, MOPS has outlined seven major policies. A standout proposal in the draft involves the introduction of life imprisonment penalty without parole for 14 specific offences. This sentence is defined as an indefinite prison term that cannot be commuted, except in case of general amnesty or clemency or where it is otherwise provided by the Law on Amnesty. It is intended for offenders who commit particularly serious crimes which, however, do not fetch the death penalty. The statute of limitations for enforcing this sentence is 20 years, matching that of standard life imprisonment and capital punishment.
The draft specifies that life imprisonment without parole will not apply to individuals aged under 18 years at the time of offence commission, pregnant women, women nursing infants under 36 months of age, or persons aged 75 years and over at the time of offence commission or trial.
Notably, for those convicted of embezzlement or bribery, the sentence may be reduced to standard life imprisonment if the convict voluntarily returns at least three-quarters of the illicit gains and actively cooperates with authorities or performs a significant service to the country.
MOPS Deputy Minister Le Van Tuyen emphasised that a primary requirement of the amendments is to swiftly address practical enforcement gaps while enhancing the law’s capacity to anticipate new criminal acts, such as cybercrime and hi-tech offences involving artificial intelligence.
Data from the 2019-2023 period highlights significant legal hurdles. Statistics from the Supreme People’s Court show that 536 cases involving 1,133 defendants were settled in the field of information technology and telecommunications. While the number of cases has risen annually, from 47 (with 73 defendants) in 2019 to 202 (449 defendants) in 2023, these figures represent a mere 0.14 per cent of total criminal cases nationwide.
Trial practice has also exposed a lack of uniformity in how the criminal law is applied. For instance, identical acts of using the Internet to appropriate property are sometimes prosecuted as “appropriating property through swindling” and other times as “using computer networks, telecommunications networks or electronic devices to appropriate property,” leading to inconsistent sentencing. Furthermore, current penalties are often limited to fixed-term imprisonment, with a high rate of under-3 year imprisonment or suspended sentences. Additional penalties, such as fines and asset confiscation, are rarely imposed, failing to provide a sufficient deterrent against crimes that generate substantial illicit profits.
Most current cases focus on property appropriation, while other acts, such as spreading malware or infiltrating data, remain under-prosecuted or lack specific provisions. Given that many offenders are highly skilled individuals aged between full 16 years and under 30 years, often with foreign links, the revision of the Penal Code is seen as an urgent move to eliminate overlapping regulations and build a robust framework to tackle non-traditional, hi-tech crimes effectively.- (VLLF)
