Study On State Compensation System For Criminal Victims In China

Italian scholar Beccaria published his great work Of Crimes and Punishments in1764. From then on, principles like Presumption of Innocence, Principle of Legality, Procedural Justice and Due Process have been the basis of criminal laws and correlation theories. However Beccaria's theory focused on the defendant's criminal entity liability and rarely involved with the victim's rights. That made criminal law system and correlation theories lack of convincing explanation to issues about victims. In China, the victim in a criminal suit with incidental civil procedure has to take the consequences along in case of no compensation available from the criminal offender. That is injustice to the victim. When the compensation for criminal damages turns to be an informal debit note, here come the problems of judicial impartiality and state responsibility. Through a review on the defendant-centered criminal law system, especially on those non-executable judgments of criminal suits with incidental civil procedures, it shows that remedy to victim's rights becomes a noticeable practical and theoretical issue. How to respect and protect the victim's rights when criminal damages happen? Thispaper reviews the defendant-centered criminal law system; study the issue of criminal justice in view of victims; and explore legal ways in China for criminal victims to gain state compensation through possible compensation system. It is meaningful to establish the compensation system for criminal victims in China. That meets the need of practicing the constitutional principle'State Respecting and Protecting Human Rights', the need of developing a legal socialist state, and the need of building a harmonious socialist society.In view of human rights protection, this paper takes a comprehensive study on state compensation system for criminal victims in China:Part One: Preface. Review on the defendant-centered criminal law system and put forward the issue of remedy centered on victims'rights. There are definitions of basic concepts and description of the study scope.Part Two: A research in difficulties and practices of criminal victims in China. It studies various difficulties for Chinese criminal victims from legal texts and reality; analyzes the necessity of establishing Chinese compensation system for criminal victims through an exploration of legal remedy practice in China.Part Three: Theoretical foundation of state compensation system for criminal victims. List out various theories and confirm that the theoretical foundation is Theory of State Liabilities supplemented by Theory of Social Insurance. Meanwhile, look for constitutional support from the national fundamental law. Constitutional principles like'Protection for Human Rights','Rule of Law', and'Social Security'has been regarded as the constitutional basis for Chinese compensation system.Part Four: Construction of Chinese compensation system for criminal victims. This is the core of the thesis. Firstly, it studies the state compensation system for criminal victims in foreign countries and some districts such as Hong Kong and Taiwan. Then it sums up general characteristics of state compensation system for criminal victims. With these valuable references, it proposes a legislation assumption showing legal ways to protect victims'rights in China.In short, it is necessary for the state to build up compensation system for victims when the victim gets no compensation from an incapable and get no other aids available. Chinese compensation system for criminal victims is meaningful in reality to respect and protect victims'human rights. It has legitimacy in theory too.