A Comparative Study Of Life Imprisonment Systems At Home And Abroad

Life imprisonment is a harsh punishment,but it becomes an important judgement instead of the death penalty around the world criminal law nowadays.According to“the Amendment(IX)to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China”.August29,2015,by the first introduction of Chinese penal system,it provides for the crime of corruption due to extremely serious acts of corruption were sentenced to the death penalty with a reprieve,the court may commute to life imprisonment at the expiration of two-year reprieve without parole and commutation limit.Since the Reform and Opening-up in 1978,China's reform on the penal system has never stopped.In the process of improving the rule of law,China's legislative concept is also constantly updated,keep up with the times.Based on the international practice and the domestic legal theory,China strides forward towards the modern penalty either in the criminal legislation or in the judicial practice.During the periods,the innovative introduction of the lifelong imprisonment to Chinese punishment system led to the author's research interest.Based on relevant literature,this paper attempts to use the method of comparative analysis,finding out the legislation and application of life imprisonment in foreign countries,and it also discusses the significance of life imprisonment applied in China,which will positively contribute to the construction of Chinese penal system.This article has four chapters:The first chapter reflects the origin of life imprisonment,and briefly presents the development of life imprisonment,until it has been widely applied around the world.In the meantime,the author analyzes the differences in life imprisonment between China and foreign country's legislation,and defines the meaning of life imprisonment.The second chapter demonstrates the application of the legislation of life imprisonment in the foreign country.In the light of other countries' experience,the author analyzes its advantages and disadvantages,and finds out the similarities and the differences by examining the legislation and regulation of life imprisonment the civil law and common law system.The third chapter introduces the legitimate position of life imprisonment in China,and its application and limitation in legal procedure and judicial practice.The fourth chapter studies the application of life imprisonment in “theAmendment(IX)to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China”,and puts forward feasible suggestions assuming extraterritorial judicial practice in Chinese judicial system in order to improve the system of life imprisonment in China.Through a comparative study of the article,the results disclose that the introduction of life imprisonment significantly contributes to an effective Chinese penalty system.It also improves Chinese penal reform and legal construction.