Restorative Justice And The Criminal Justice Policy

It is a significant issue that how to protect victims' legitimate rights and at the same time to help the wrongdoers return to their community, which most of the countries in the world face now. The traditional criminal judicature suffers widespread criticism for not taking seriously to protect victims' rights and pursue substantive justice. But the restorative justice has been gaining scholars' attention day by day, providing an idea that one might use for reference. Different from the traditional criminal judicature, the restorative justice pays more attention to victims' legitimate rights, and tries hard to remedy the community and family hurt by crimes. However, we should also see that the restorative justice and the traditional criminal judicature are interlinked in the value. If the traditional criminal judicature has the nature of retribution outside and utility inside; then the restorative justice has utility outside, retribution inside. This point is manifested especially distinctively in the "Forgive and Strict Criminal Policy". To fully understand this policy, one should hold three key words, "forgive" "strict" and "and". "Forgive" refers to tolerant and pardon. "Strict" means that the law is strict, but the penalty is not. The word "and" here refers to relief, coordination and combination. The "Forgive and Strict Criminal Policy" is a combination of the restorative justice and traditional criminal judicature. It would be quite easy to study and discuss this combination, on the basis of the Trinity Structure proposed by Dr. Gao Weijian. As to practice, countries which have accepted the restorative justice, are all seeking their own practical patterns and have already gained some experiences. Also in our country the judicial and public security organs departments have started to explore our own restorative juridical patterns.This article is divided into three parts: introduction, main text, and conclusion.The introduction begins with the restorative justice's primary spirit, then expresses writer's optimistic attitude toward it, indicating that the writer approves to seek experiences through studying and discussing the issue.The main text is divided three major parts:The first part introduces characters of the restorative justice and the traditional criminal judicature, manifesting both of them is interlinked in the value. It is very necessary to combine the two juridical ideas, especially thinking about the Trinity Structure proposed by Dr. Gao Weijian.The second part mainly revolves the criminal countermeasure. Compared with the "Punish and Alleviate Criminal Policy", our country's current criminal policy advocates loose penalty. It gradually combines the restorative justice and the traditional criminal judicature, exploring a Chinese characteristic road of juridical reform.The third part introduces the related stipulation in our current law and local practical experiences, indicating the Forgive and Strict Criminal Policy's positive function in juridical reform through the case China V. Xu Ting, at last proposing some suggestions on procedure and system.