On the afternoon of August 29, 2025, the Criminal Practice Department of Beijing Weiheng Law Firm held the 24th “Weiheng Criminal Defense Salon”. Mr. Zang Desheng, senior partner of Beijing King&Capital Law Firm, was invited to give a lecture on “Difficult Issues in the Defense of Functional Crimes Cases”, which was combined with online and offline, and between lecture and interaction, and more than 2,000 people participated in this activity.

Mr. Zang Desheng pointed out that the current high incidence of duty crime cases is a business field that criminal defense lawyers should pay attention to, but there are many difficulties and pain points in the defense of duty crime cases, which need to be studied in depth, face the reality, and strive for the optimal defense effect, so he chose this topic to communicate with everyone.

Mr. Zang Desheng talked about the five aspects of job crime cases which are widely concerned:

First, the jurisdiction of the case of duty crime. Zang Desheng made a systematic combing of the functional jurisdiction, territorial jurisdiction and the special characteristics of the level jurisdiction of the functional crime cases, analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of a large number of designated jurisdiction problems, and put forward the suggestions on how the lawyers can combine the improper jurisdiction with the entity defense.

Secondly, it is the problem of reviewing and judging the evidence in the cases of job-related crimes. Compared with ordinary criminal offenses, the reliance on verbal evidence is stronger in cases of crimes in office, plus the fact that the parties do not have the help of lawyers during the period of detention, the review of verbal evidence, especially the confession and defense of suspects and defendants, is an issue that requires great attention. Mr. Zang Desheng explained the application and strategy of illegal evidence exclusion.

Thirdly, the identification of state officials. Zang Desheng lawyer combined with the criminal law provisions and relevant judicial interpretations and other documents on the identification of national staff standards and the meaning of “engaged in public service” explained, focusing on the interpretation of the state-funded enterprises in the “assigned” national staff identification rules.

Fourth, the issue of active and passive bribery cases. In the background of “active and passive bribery together”, the need for active and passive bribery cases overall research and judgment, Zang Desheng lawyers combined with cases, centering on the “job facilitation”, “seeking (improper) benefits” understanding, soliciting bribes (extorted), and the meaning of “active and passive bribery”, focusing on explaining the rules of the determination of “assigned” state staff in state-funded enterprises. Understanding, solicitation (extortion) of the determination of the circumstances, unit bribery and individual bribery distinction and other key issues are explained one by one.

Fifth, the application of sentencing circumstances of functional crimes. Sentencing defense is an important defense content of job crime cases, defense lawyers need to pay great attention to the sentencing circumstances. Mr. Zang Desheng explains the self-surrender, confession, merit, attempt, accessory, return of stolen goods and compensation, guilty plea and other special circumstances belonging to office crimes, focusing on the determination rules and application effects of sentencing circumstances.

In the interactive session, Mr. Zang Desheng answered the questions from the audience, and made further exchanges on how to communicate effectively with the case-handling authorities, how to build up the confidence of defense in difficult times, and how to stick to the professional beliefs, etc., which received a good effect.