Understanding And Application Of The Commutation Of "Life Imprisonment" In China

The main purpose of increasing life imprisonment in Amendment(9)of Criminal Law is to adapt to the development of death penalty policy in China and to cooperate with the criminal policy of severely cracking down on corruption.In the crime of embezzlement and bribery,there is a heated debate about whether the sentence of a criminal sentenced to life imprisonment can be commuted and under what circumstances.From the point of view of criminal law education,it can be found that the reduction of life imprisonment does not negate the criminal policy of severely punishing corruption from the point of view of article 383,paragraph 4,article 50 and article 78 of the Criminal Law.In the first case,during the execution of the death penalty suspension,the criminal sentenced to life imprisonment was reduced to 25 years of fixed-term imprisonment due to significant performance,and the main reason is that the occurrence of the legal consequences of execution of the death penalty suspension is bound to apply to article 50,and the reduction of article 50 to life imprisonment or 25 years of fixed-year imprisonment does not include the "commutation" of article 383,paragraph 4,and the "commutation" in paragraph 4 of Article 383 shall refer to Article 78.In the second case,if,after the expiration of the suspended test,the offender sentenced to life imprisonment has made great achievements in serving his sentence in life imprisonment,the sentence shall be commuted.The main reason is that the "commuted sentence"in Article 78 is a rigid provision,and according to the order rule of interpretation,it shall take precedence over the application of Article 383"No commuted sentence".To sum up,there is only one situation of absolute life imprisonment:criminals sentenced to life imprisonment in the crime of embezzlement and bribery,if there is no intentional crime and no major meritorious service during the suspension of the death penalty,shall be commuted to life imprisonment in accordance with the law,and the offender shall not make great achievements during serving his sentence in life imprisonment.A systematic analysis of the life imprisonment system in the criminal legislation of the United States shows that the legislation of some states divides life imprisonment into two types.There is no remission in the legislation of the states of the United States,and there is a comparison between the life imprisonment of parole and the situation of life imprisonment in our country during the execution of life imprisonment.This paper is divided into three parts:the first part,starts from the legislative background and legislative purpose of life imprisonment in China,combs the legislative process of Criminal Law Amendment(9),and explores why life imprisonment is not put forward in the draft and the second draft,but only determines life imprisonment at the time of finalization,in which the legislative process of life imprisonment is rigorous,in order to lead to the core dispute of the application of life imprisonment in our country-the dispute of"commuting sentencet".The second content of the first part leads to the theoretical controversy and legislative provisions of the life imprisonment system in the United States,and then echoes the topic.The second part,the second chapter,mainly introduces the dispute of commuting the sentence of life imprisonment in China during the suspended execution of the death penalty,comments on the theory of "not commuting the sentence" and the viewpoint of "having great meritorious service and reducing it to 25 years' imprisonment",and then puts forward the proof of the theory of commuting the sentence.Since the United States legislative provision on the reduction of life imprisonment was examined,the United States legislative provision for the suspension of death penalty was not found,and this part would not involve an investigation into the legislation and theory of the United States.The third part is the third chapter,which mainly expounds the dispute of commuting sentence during the execution of life imprisonment.First of all,it introduces whether the sentence can be commuted during the execution of life imprisonment in China,and comments on the viewpoints of "not commuting sentence" and "should be commuted" in the theoretical circle.Then it examines the legislation of the states of the United States,sums up two types of life imprisonment that can be commuted and the life imprisonment that can not be commuted,and finds out the enlightenment to the remission of the sentence during the execution of life imprisonment in China.Finally,it proves that the remission of life imprisonment in China is certain,and that the reduction of sentence is in line with the legislative purpose of adding life imprisonment for embezzlement and bribery crimes.