Research On The Practice Of Criminal Policy Of Combining Punishment With Leniency By Studying On Criminal Law Amendment

The criminal policy refers to the coping strategies against the current criminal punishment, and correction of the criminals for the prevention of repeated criminal offenses, which are formulated by the national legislature, the judiciary in accordance with the specific country’s conditions and reality and trend of crime. From the perspective of its stability, the criminal policy is inferior to the Penal Code, yet the study of it is of great significance under our country’s current system.In 2004, Comrade Luo Gan put forward the concept of "combining punishment with mercy" for the first time in the working conference of Politics and Law Committee, which was a milestone in the process of the change of China’s criminal policy. It has been nearly seven years since this criminal policy of "combining punishment with leniency" was put forward. This criminal policy has become more mature in the long term of judicial practice. And this policy was materialized in the approved "Eighth Amendment to the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China" in February 2011.Presently, most Chinese scholars have focused on the Amendment of specific systems and the articles of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, yet few paid attention to the changes of the Chinese criminal policy along with the Amendment. Undoubtedly, the general principles involved in the amendment of criminal law has uncovered the concrete achievement of the criminal policy of "combining punishment with mercy", which would be great references for the changes of the criminal policy and the development of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China.In this thesis, the author has mainly adopted the document research, comprehending the basic theories of the criminal policy through reading the relevant documents. The author also tried to grasp the scientific basis of the formation of the criminal policy of "combining punishment with mercy" from changes and trends of the changes of the criminal policy since modern times. And finally through the research on the amendment of the articles of the criminal law, the author aims to do a in-depth study of the legal basis, social backdrop behind the policy and suggestions from different parties in the process of the amendment.The author has compared the former criminal policy of "combining punishment with mercy," with the present one and analyzed the points in common and the changes and development in terms of the means against the crimes through the amendment of the specific articles. The author has also uncovered the disputes as to the current policy of "combining punishment with mercy" and responses from different parties so as to find out the demerits and the development of the criminal policy of "combining punishment with mercy".This thesis is composed of five chapters. The first chapter is the development and the status quo of China’s criminal policies, in which the basic theories of criminal policy have been introduced, and the meaning of the criminal policy has been determined. The development of China’s criminal policy evolution occurred in different historical periods and thus the effects of the three criminal policies upon our country, namely the policies of "integrating punishment with mercy", "severe punishment against criminal activities" and "combining punishment with mercy ".In the second chapter, the reflection of "punishment" in the policy in the amendment of the criminal law, which is the severe punishment on the criminal activities harmful to the people’s livehood.In the third chapter, the realization of the requirement of human right as one of the influence of the policy will be discussed. There are two main aspects:the restore of the tradition of "Sympathizing with the aged and children", and the amendment upon the death penalty.In the fifth chapter, the changes of the articles of penalty system in accordance with the requirement of the criminal policy of "combining punishment with mercy" would be discussed. The trend of diversification in terms of criminal activities would also be discussed by the author.The sixth chapter is the conclusion. The author would give a conclusion on the practice of the criminal policy of "combining punishment with mercy" in the amendment of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China. And an in-depth discussion would be given by the author upon the room for improvement and the trend in terms of the practice of the criminal policy in the legislative and judicial activities.