Research On Death Penalty Restriction Of Elderly Criminals

China has entered the aged society. More and more people are concerned about the issues of senior citizens, especially the elderly crime problems. Facing the urgent problem of elderly crime, especially the elderly death penalty crime, Chinese legislation has responded positively, following the international tendency of light punishment. Chinese Criminal Law defines the restriction of death penalty application not clearly, such as "during the trial","particularly cruel means","cause someone to death", and the application of immediate execution or suspension of execution when it comes to the death penalty for elderly crime. Sometimes when it applies the suspension of execution, but the terms for its application are not defined clearly in Chinese Criminal Law, which results in many differences in practice. With regards to the defect of unclear definition in the legislation, through theoretical and practical analysis, this paper suggests limiting "during the trial" to the period from the date of case filing to the date before the punishment has been completely executed. When judging particularly cruel means, we cannot only focus on its literal meaning. We should make subjective and objective analysis of the personal dangerousness and social harmfulness."Cause someone to death" only applies to the subjective form of causing a person’s death deliberately. Considering the particularity of the senior citizens, this paper suggests extending the application of suspension of execution. The discretion in light of penalty circumstance should be considered as one of the terms for the restriction of suspension of execution. This paper also discusses the heavy living penalty after the probation period of suspension of execution and suggests extending the application of penalty reduction, parole and so on, which should be applied comprehensively.