Modern Social Science Research

The system of collateral consequences of crimes refers to a legal system that restricts, prohibits, or deprives specific rights, qualifications, or interests of the actor themselves and specific related subjects (such as family members and relatives) based on the actor’s criminal record or prior conviction. Through a comprehensive approach combining normative analysis, empirical analysis, and comparative research, this study reveals three core problems of the system: first, the mismatch between collateral consequences and the liability of minor offenses; second, most collateral consequences have no time limit, violating the principle of proportionality; third, the unbalanced punishment among groups with different educational backgrounds. This paper proposes that the principle of "individual liability for one’s own crimes" should be established, collateral consequences should be clearly limited to the actor through normative documents, a China-specific "conditional elimination of minor offense records" system should be constructed, and differentiated punishment should be implemented to improve the accuracy of punishment and correction effects. This study aims to address the disconnection between the collateral consequences system for drunk driving-related dangerous driving offenses and the concept of minor offense governance, and promote the improvement of the system to conform to the principle of proportionality between crime, liability, and punishment, thereby facilitating the reintegration of offenders into society.

Drunk driving-related dangerous driving offense; Collateral consequences; Minor offense governance; Proportionality between crime, liability, and punishment