Interpreted Crime By Punishment: A Supplementary Method To Interpret The Nature Of Criminal Law

Criminal law needs to be interpreted. The application of the criminal law norm is a process of criminal law interpretation, essentially. Most of the debates of those complicated criminal cases are actually the debates of criminal law interpretation.The development of legal interpretation has a long history from pursuing original intention to questioning goal. The early legal interpretation is a hermeneutic pursuing legislator’s original intention and the recent legal interpretation is a hermeneutic questioning legislative goal. The modern legal interpretation, however, is a dialectic unity of pursuing legislator’s original intention and questioning legislative goal.Through the legal interpretation theory of the carding and analysis, we know that there are seven basic methods for interpretation of the criminal law: semantic interpretation, systematical interpretation, logical interpretation, historical interpretation, comparative interpretation, teleological interpretation, interpretation of constitutionality.When using the seven methods, there are two different types of criminal law interpretation: formal interpretation, substantial interpretation.Upholding the banner of "the principle of legally prescribing penalty in form ", the advocates of formal interpretation argue that we should pay more attention on formal rationality of criminal law and should be in the form of a rational and protect function of human rights in criminal law. They emphasize that the rigidity and closure of criminal law clauses as well as alert amplified interpretation in criminal law. Meanwhile, the advocates of substantial interpretation hold that they act from realistic version, with the guide of protection of legal interests and based on the appropriateness and necessity of punishment in order to emphasize the ambiguity of criminal law language and criminal law clauses. Criminal law interpretation cannot just stick to literal meaning but must conform to the actual situation of social development and changes. They allow expansion interpretation, even on the defendant’s analogy to explain the negative.Because of the latest development trend of the world and current needs of China’s the criminal justice system and also the characteristic of China’s criminal law theory of criminal elements, criminal law interpretation in China must stick to the theory of substantial interpretation. “Interpreted crime by punishment” is a specific and defined method of substantial interpretation.The topic of “interpreted crime by punishment” defines “crime”as an important standard and basis of criminal law interpretation and uses an instruction to interpret element of “balance between crime and punishment”. This includes the noun, the concept and the term of criminal law clauses and also includes choosing appropriate charges.When a certain kind of criminal behavior is over-punished by criminal law and there are various interpretations in noun and concept at same time, the criminal law interpretation should choose the narrower meaning in order to restrict the scale of crime. When a certain kind of criminal behavior is punished too light by criminal law and there is even not an equivalent clause for it and the clause can be interpreted multiply, the criminal law interpretation should choose wider meaning in order to properly expand punishment scope. When the application of the criminal law provisions will lead to serious crimes imbalances, criminal law interpretation ought to reselect a more appropriate charge with the principle of balance between a crime and a punishment. For those cases that be convicted formally but be acquit acquitted substantially, we can erase crime through criminal law interpretation.However, for those cases that get light sentences substantially but are over-punished by criminal law, we should choose the narrower meaning in order to restrict the scale of crime or reselect a more appropriate charge with the principle of balance between a crime and a punishment. For those cases that be acquit acquitted formally but be convicted substantially, and there are possible interpretations in clauses of criminal law at same time, we incriminate them through criminal law interpretation. However, for those cases that convict felon substantially but get light sentences on criminal law, we ought to choose the wider meaning in order to expand the scale of crime to satisfy the necessity of punishment or reselect a felony with the principle of balance between a crime and a punishment. “interpreted crime by punishment”emphasizes that criminal law interpretation cannot rigidly adhere to literal meaning and it must interpret the elements of criminal behavior from balance between crime and punishment as well as pay attention on appropriateness and necessity of punishment. In this sense, this method supports substantial interpretation. “interpreted crime by punishment” is an innovative approach that created by the judges who woke on the forefront of criminal justice. It introduces “crime” as a key reference factor into a conviction so that it can well make up for the inadequacy of a unidirectional conviction mode which defined as “conviction first, measurement of penalty second and conviction have nothing to do with measurement of penalty”.What is more, it can satisfactorily solve the problems of crime imbalance and unfair judge as well as trigger rethinking of “relationship between crime and punishment”. Therefore, “interpreted crime by punishment” will have very important theoretical and practical values.