[2] Impersonation in University Admissions: The Root Cause Is Legislative Deficiency
[2] Compiled from: Peking University Legal Information Network, The Paper
Recently, it was revealed that in Shandong Province, 242 individuals were found to have fraudulently obtained academic qualifications by impersonating others for school admission between 2002 and 2009. Among these cases, the incident in Guan County, Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, where a rural woman had her identity stolen for university admission, was exposed by the media and has drawn significant public attention.
[4] Event Review
Sixteen years after Chen Chunxiu "failed" the college entrance examination, she planned to apply to an adult education school. While filling in her information, she discovered that "she" had "attended" Shandong University of Technology and successfully graduated. Only then did she realize that she had been impersonated by someone else to attend university that year.
A joint investigation team formed in Guan County, Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, found that Chen Moumou, the woman who impersonated another person to attend university, scored 303 points in the liberal arts in the gaokao, 243 points below the liberal arts junior college admission cutoff that year. The person whose identity was stolen scored 546 points in the sciences, 27 points above the science junior college admission cutoff, and was admitted to Shandong University of Technology, but the admission letter was obtained by Chen Moumou.
According to school staff, on May 23, the school received a telephone report from Chen Chunxiu, the person whose identity was impersonated. Subsequently, an investigation team was established to begin a preliminary verification. On May 26, the school sent personnel to Guan County, Liaocheng, to visit and investigate both the impersonator and the impersonated individual.
According to the Guanxian joint investigation team, the impersonator changed her name to Chen Chunxiu after the 2004 college entrance examination. Upon learning of the situation, Shandong University of Technology immediately initiated the procedure to revoke Chen's academic qualifications. According to CHSI, the revocation date was June 9, 2020.
The involved university admitted to lax review.
Ai Xiujun, former Director of the Admissions and Employment Office of Shandong University of Technology, stated: “The 2004 Notice on Conducting the Qualification Review for 2004 Freshmen issued by Shandong University of Technology explicitly specifies in the ‘Admission Qualification Review’ section that reviews must be conducted based on high school records, electronic archives, and the individual’s personal circumstances, ensuring consistency among the examination admission ticket, admission notice, household registration certificate, and the individual’s photo materials. Where any inconsistency is found, the cause must be promptly identified and substantiated with evidence. Meanwhile, for students involved in impersonation during examinations, identity fraud for school admission, and similar situations, timely compilation and reporting to the Admissions and Employment Office are required.” The three problematic students identified in the 2004 review as described by Ai Xiujun did not include Chen Moumou.”
Wei Xiuting, vice president of Shandong University of Technology, said: "Regarding the qualification review of new students upon enrollment, the current common practice is for the university to issue documents and notices and hold meetings to make arrangements, after which relevant professional counselors at the colleges conduct the preliminary review of enrollment qualifications. Generally speaking, one counselor reviews the information of several hundred students. If the counselor is not meticulous enough in their work or lacks a strong sense of responsibility, there may be cases where problems cannot be detected."
Legal responsibility
Criminal Law
Article 280, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Law stipulates that anyone who forges, alters, or buys or sells resident identity cards, passports, social security cards, driver's licenses, or other documents that may be used to prove identity in accordance with the law shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights, and shall also be fined; if the circumstances are serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years, and shall also be fined.
An impersonator may be involved in the forgery or alteration of identity cards or household registrations, and may be suspected of the crime of forging, altering, or buying or selling identity documents.
Article 280-1 of the Criminal Law stipulates that anyone who, in activities where identity documents are required to be provided in accordance with state regulations, uses forged or altered identity documents, or steals and uses another person's resident identity card, passport, social security card, driver's license, or other documents that may be used to prove identity in accordance with the law, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also or solely be fined. If the act in the preceding paragraph also constitutes another crime, the offender shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the provisions for the heavier punishment.
If an actor forges, alters, or buys or sells resident identity cards, passports, or other identity documents for the purpose of use, this act both constitutes this crime and the crime of forging, altering, or buying or selling identity documents, constituting an implicated act, and shall be punished according to the principle of handling implicated offenses by selecting the heavier crime.
Civil Law
For infringement compensation, two principles are followed: first, all profits gained from the infringement are compensated to the victim; second, all losses suffered by the victim due to the infringement are compensated. When neither can be determined, a statutory compensation limit is set.
In this case, where the right to education has been infringed, determining actual losses is both a theoretical and practical issue, which should be addressed from two aspects. On one hand, education authorities can establish mechanisms for reinstating student status and supplementary enrollment, allowing students who were impersonated in college admissions to resume their studies if they wish. On the other hand, wages and other income generated by the impersonating student after attending college should be compensated to the infringed party at a certain proportion.
Statute of limitations issue
Criminal Law
The Criminal Law provides for the limitation period for prosecution, stipulating that a crime shall no longer be prosecuted after the following periods: ① where the maximum statutory penalty is fixed-term imprisonment of less than 5 years, after 5 years; ② where the maximum statutory penalty is fixed-term imprisonment of 5 years or more but less than 10 years, after 10 years; ③ where the maximum statutory penalty is fixed-term imprisonment of 10 years or more, after 15 years; ④ where the maximum statutory penalty is life imprisonment or the death penalty, after 20 years.
Under the above provisions, if the maximum penalty for the crime of forging, fabricating, or trading official documents, certificates, or seals of state organs is 10 years, this means the statute of limitations for prosecution is 15 years. The law provides that if a person evades investigation or trial after judicial authorities have taken compulsory measures, they are not subject to the limitation period for prosecution; if an aggrieved party files a lawsuit with the relevant authorities and the case should have been accepted but was not, the statute of limitations for prosecution does not apply. At the same time, if after 20 years it is deemed necessary to prosecute, the matter must be submitted to the Supreme People's Court for approval.
Civil Law
Under the law of torts, the limitation period for requesting a people's court to protect civil rights is three years. Where the law provides otherwise, those provisions shall prevail. The limitation period begins on the date when the right holder knows or should have known that the right has been harmed and who the obligor is. Where the law provides otherwise, those provisions shall prevail. However, where more than twenty years have passed since the date on which the right was harmed, the people's court shall not provide protection; under special circumstances, the people's court may decide to extend the period upon the application of the right holder.
In this case, the impersonator continued to commit the infringing act, so even after 16 years, the person whose identity was impersonated can still file a lawsuit with the court against the impersonator's infringing act.
[1] The author's perspective
[2] There is no specific crime in criminal law regarding impersonation to attend university, which I find quite regrettable. In China's criminal law, taking an exam for someone else is criminalized. However, impersonation is even more egregious, as it not only violates basic fairness and justice but also crosses the bottom line of social justice and human conscience. Therefore, in today's rule-of-law China, it is imperative to legislate impersonation to attend university as a crime.
[3] How many people have studied hard for twelve years, with their parents toiling in the fields, hoping their children can change their fate through university. Yet in the end, they fail the exam and miss the turning point of their destiny. This is not due to a lack of personal effort, but because dark hands behind the scenes have hijacked their lives. People say knowledge changes fate; these impersonators have stolen not just an admission letter but a lifetime of destiny. To deal with these behind-the-scenes culprits, the law must be the strongest and most powerful means. Justice may be delayed, but it will never be absent.
