Punishment And Reconciliation

It has been a common understanding that criminal litigations seek to punish those who broke the law in order to maintain social stability and the rules of the nation.The neglect of victims'rights and aggressive punishment of crimes have painted criminal litigations the color of revenge. This kind of purpose driven model of criminal litigations is lagging behind the development of times and society with a great deal of limitations. As society and human civilization evolves, the counter measures adopted by countries in the world against crimes tend to be rational. On the backdrop of introspection of traditional idea of punishment and the restoration of victims' subject status etc, victim-offender-reconciliation is first attempted and gradually established in the western countries. This kind of reconciliation, based on the concept of restorative justice, offers a new approach other than the traditional system of punishment. This new approach has overcome the flaws of vindictive justice in realization of social effects and justice, while serving to restore justice. In the context of building a harmonious society, criminal offence reconciliation has also attracted considerable amount of attention in China. In this article, analysis and comparisons are made between the purpose of punishment in criminal litigations and the pursuit of reconciliations. Through those analyses, the author tries to point out the flaws of vindictive justice and elaborate on establishing a victim-offender-reconciliation system based on restorative justice in China.There are four sections.Section one is punishment is the traditional objective of Criminal Procedure. While studying the validity of punishment two schools of thought, the retributivism and the utilitarianism, have come up. Punishment as a method of retribution is broadly applied. It serves the purpose of protecting the interest of country and society, deterring other members of society, and preserves social order. But on the other hand, punishment has certain flaws. For while punishing the criminal, the harms of the victim are still neglected. It is especially hard to compensate the victim or to restore the sabotaged social relations. In a way, it does not provide strong disincentives or restraints for criminal behavior. Thus, it is necessary to shift emphasis in criminal litigations a little in order to effectively balance the interest of parties to the litigation.Section two is mainly about the rise of victim-offender-reconciliation. Victim-offender-reconciliation is based on the theory of restoring justice. Victim-offender-reconciliation refers to the direct negotiation between the victims and the offenders after a crime is committed, the agreement or understanding reached by the parties that are ratified by the authority can be used as basis to relief or exempt of criminal responsibility. Victim-offender-reconciliation system is the product of new thinking in criminal litigations and the evolve of legal values. It has brought a challenge, which is thought to be appropriate in many western countries, to vindictive justice. Restore justice theory, balance theory, and the theory of narrative are the theoretical basis for victim-offender-reconciliation. Through reconciliation the antagonistic relations and conflicts of individual interest and social interest is solved. It pays more attention to victims'rights. It seeks to restore the sabotaged social relations. And it will restructure the purpose of criminal litigations in our country.Section three deals with the purpose of criminal litigations in our country. In our country, the ideology of country standard has long been in the leading position. In criminal litigations, the public prosecution organ, which represent the interest of the country, brought law suits to courts. As a result, criminal litigations realize the country's political purpose. The country does not allow private reconciliation between individuals. But this unitary method to realize the purpose of criminal litigations no longer provides all the solutions we need today in a society that advocates individual rights. Stringent administration of justice could made both the offender and the victim suffer. Victim-offender- reconciliation bypasses the disadvantages of the vindictive justice administration. It replaces the idea of punishment with repair and restoration, whose core values echoes with our ambition to build a harmonious society.Section four deals with the positioning the purpose of criminal litigations in our country and the adjustment of is realization. As a matter of fact, victims and offenders are the parties to the criminal action. The nature of a criminal case is the private dispute between the victim and the offender. But because of the country's intervention, power presides over rights in the solution. Neglecting the private nature of criminal litigations will unavoidably lead to involving retribution in realizing the purpose of criminal litigations. In our country, vindictive justice has a profound influence over people's perception of justice. But this kind of justice is "harm justice". Punishment should not be the only way to reduce crimes. Providing the offenders a way to return to the society and restoring social relations should be the tendency of development in criminal litigations. As we have just had the new policy of building a harmonious society and also "stringent and merciful" in criminal punishment policy, many similar cases arise that demonstrate the need of victim-offender-reconciliation. Some cities have already made plans for victim-offender-reconciliation in criminal litigations. Those lay foundations for a reconciliation system in criminal cases. While learning from others' experiences, we need to consider the applicable conditions, the scope, the appropriate stage, the relative legislation support and the supervision of a victim-offender-reconciliation system. We need to try to establish a victim-offender reconciliation system that addresses the situation of our country and the special need of our society. And thus, make the system function smoothly in the context of a harmonious society.