As talk of a harmonious society permeates official rhetoric, all governmental bodies are racing against time to present their own prescription for harmony.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate promulgated its own prescription on Thursday, highlighting a balance between leniency and severity in criminal justice.

It was a package consisting of three documents one general policy statement on coordinating leniency and severity, one on handling cases of juvenile delinquency, and the third on expediting the handling of minor criminal offenses.

In Chinese judicial practice, procuratorates investigate crimes by State functionaries, issue arrest warrants, play the prosecutor's role in criminal litigation, and supervise court proceedings.

Like the courts, they work under the principle that all crimes shall be punished according to law.

The idea of combining leniency and severity in no sense represents a breakthrough in jurisprudence. It is the prominence given to leniency that makes the package special.

Although the Criminal Law includes many circumstances that qualify for lenient treatment by the courts, our legal philosophy has a preference for severity in dealing with crimes. Leniency has seldom been a keyword in the lexicon of procuratorial departments.

All crimes have negative social effects. But the degrees of harm vary by large margins.

Our judiciary exists not only to punish. It can also be constructive. The Supreme Procuratorate obviously wants to tap such potential.

For such circumstances as involuntary crimes and minor offenses, a dose of leniency can be more efficient in controlling damage and repairing broken ties.

The outcome can be more desirable if our procuratorates issue fewer arrest warrants and bring fewer cases to court. If more disputes resulting from lesser crimes can be solved through out-of-court mediation, it would not only reduce the workload of our judiciary but also reduce chances of confrontation.

The Chinese judiciary has a fine tradition that values mediation. This is a natural extension of our culture's appreciation of harmony.

The Supreme Procuratorate struck the right chord with its formula of harmony.

But we hope it remains properly vigilant so that its good intentions are not abused.

We cannot afford a judiciary lenient with fraudulent State functionaries. What they deserve is more severity.

(China Daily February 6, 2007)