Law amendment to punish impostors wins public support

Those stealing other people's identity to illegally get admission to higher education institutions or land a civil servant's job will be fined and sentenced to up to three years in prison, according to the second draft amendment to the Criminal Law that was submitted for review to the National People's Congress Standing Committee, the country's top legislature, on Tuesday.

Those organizing the fraud by allowing a person to fill in for someone else will get even more severe punishment, the draft says.

This means impostors could now face criminal punishment, a provision that could curb incidences of the fraud during exams, admissions to higher education institutions or recruitments.

The draft amendment has won wide public support because it addresses public concern in the face of increasing fraud cases being exposed.

One that triggered widespread anger online was that of 36-yearold Chen Chunxiu, a woman in Liaocheng, Shandong province. Despite having passed the college entrance examination in 2004, another student had stolen her identity and took her place at Shandong University of Technology. The impostor had colluded with local officials in this fraud, and became a civil servant after graduation. Chen assumed she had failed to get admission to the college and was forced by circumstances to become a migrant worker.

The officials behind the fraud were ultimately penalized and the impostor fired, but none of them were held for legal liability, and the decisions came 16 years after the fraud was committed, too late for Chen to be fully compensated.

The problem is made worse by more such cases being exposed by the media, while the punishment the wrongdoers get hardly serves as a deterrent.

Therefore, the draft amendment shows that the law is targeting such frauds. Unless every potential impostor realizes that he or she faces severe punishment for appropriating someone else's identity or score to gain higher education or employment or other benefits, there can be no deterrent.