Reform On The Death Penalty From The Perspective Of Humanism

As the most ancient way of penalty, the death penalty has continued ever since. No one has ever doubted the deterrence and fairness of the death penalty until Beccaria issued such a question, "what rights can people rely on to kill their own kind?"Since then, argument on the abolition of the death penalty has prolonged along with the reform on the law. With the economic development and cultural heritage, Britain and Germany, France, Japan and other developed countries have reformed or even abolished the death penalty one after another and the humanistic reform on the death penalty has been in full swing in the whole world. As the traditional culture"the killer should be killed"has continued to this day, the death penalty in the penal system has been preserved thereto.With the development up to now, humanism has been more people-centered and attached importance to the existence and value of human being, forming a primacy of the human being and value. As an "evil", penalty has constantly drawn from the force of humanism for good in the process of change. The penalty system has switched from the death penalty and corporal punishment as the center to the sentence of imprisonment as the center, even into an era in which the non-custodial sentence is the center. From the development of penalty, the humanism of the death penalty calls for abolition thereof. The person committing the crime shall be punished but should not be sentenced to the death penalty.Our country still clings to the death penalty, which has initially been provided with some humanistic elements. In the formulation of substantive law, the change from the applicable scope of the death penalty to the applicable object thereof from the death sentence to probation reflects the basic legislation spirit of limiting the death penalty. From the set of procedural law, the intention of the set of the death penalty review procedure and the death penalty execution procedure publicizes the relief of the procedure for the life right and achieves the unity and accuracy of the application of the death penalty. Although we have made some achievements on the humanistic building and reform on the death penalty, compared with the developed countries there is still a big gap. In the substantive provisions, the restriction on the application of the death penalty is not enough and the death penalty has too many charges and is too harsh. In the procedural provisions, the review process is still not perfect, ignoring the humane care of the death criminal. In judicial practice, the regional situation affects the application of the death penalty during some period and the media and public opinion intervene with the death penalty discretion on some cases. It seems that the death penalty reform has gradually lagging behind the rapid economic development.In the broader context of abolition of the death penalty, we can only change the traditional concept of"statecraft by heavy penalties ", limit the application of the death penalty and realize the perfect transformation from restricting the death penalty to the death thereof as soon as possible. First, we must change the psychology of blindly relying on deterrence of the death penalty and traditional retribution psychology, and establish a rational, tolerant and humanistic idea. Second, we should formulate clear applicable scope of the death penalty from the substantive law, extend the scope of limited applicable object of the death penalty and further reduce the death penalty charges. From the procedural law, we should improve the death penalty review procedures and achieve the humanization of the death penalty execution procedures.The implementation of the contemporary humanism principle in the current death penalty system is a very vast and complex project, involving criminal legislation, trial and execution, and many other aspects. Perhaps there is still a long way to go for the abolition of the death penalty, but we should also do the overnight battle, and ultimately the abolition thereof is just a process.