The Criminal Policy Analysis

Since the previous severe criminal policy being criticized, the lenient and severe criminal policy has been regarded as a basic criminal policy nowadays and in the future. The authority expects to realize punishing crime and decreasing social counterwork at the same time so as to achieve the unity of legal and social effects by applying the lenient and severe criminal policy. The policy has more realistic significance in the current construction of harmonious society especially. So the research on the policy is 6f importantly theoretical and practical value.The thesis is composed of four parts. In the first part, the author defines the lenient and severe criminal policy through semantic and structural analysis. In semantic analysis, besides discussing the accurate conception of the lenience and severity in criminal policy respectively, the author demonstrates their mutual relationship should keep in balance. And stability and adaptability should be persevered simultaneously in performing the lenient and severe criminal policy. In the structural analysis, the author illustrates the main body, the objective, the carrier, the foundation and the aim etc. of the criminal policy systematically.It has always being an important topic in our traditional legal culture that whether crimes should be punished leniently or severely. In the second part of the thesis, the author reviews the historical development of the lenient and severe criminal policy by analyzing the opinions and practices in the ancient dynasties divided into four. After summarizing the historical experiences and exploring the applicable rule, the author considers some of the opinions are still applicable today.In the third part, the theoretical foundation is demonstrated which includes the foundation of lenience, of the severity and of the two applied simultaneously. The foundation of severity includes some traditional theories such as the Broken Window Theory and the foundation of lenience includes Labeling Theory etc. The lenient and severe criminal policy is built on the principle that the punishment should fit the crime and the opinion of dialectics. Owing to the wide theoretical foundation, the lenient and severe criminal policy could have such strong vitality and good adaptability.