Studies On The Unbalance Of Sentencing Discretion

With the balance of sentence discretion being an essential component of criminal judgments, the unbalances of sentencing discretion has naturally become a commonly-concerned issue. Till present, Jiangsu Provincial Higher Court and Shanghai Higher Court have already issued guidelines on sentencing discretion, which indicates that the research on the unbalances of sentencing discretion has entered into the truly operational stage. The following article shall, first of all, theoretically explain the definition, characteristics, importance and principles of sentencing discretion;after that, the article shall be provided with detailed analysis of the meaning, manifestations, and causes of sentencing discretion unbalances, thus locating the root causes of sentencing discretion unbalances. Also taking into consideration the foreign studies on sentencing discretion unbalances, the article finally points out that in China sentencing discretion balance is to be achieved by such measures as perfecting criminal legislation, improving the comprehensive qualities of the judiciary team, and adopting scientific sentencing discretion methods.