Research On The System Of Life Imprisonment Under The Background Of Death Penalty Reform In China

With the awakening of international awareness of human rights,the existence of death penalty has been criticized by many countries.People begin to realize that death penalty is cruel and against the spirit of humanitarianism.The call for abolishing death penalty becomes more and more strong.Promoted by the death penalty reform,China's Criminal Law Amendment promulgated in 2011 abolished the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes.In order to further restrict the application of death penalty,the Amendment to the Criminal Law(Nine)was promulgated in 2015,in which life imprisonment was added as a penalty only applicable to the crime of corruption and bribery.Lifelong imprisonment is still a kind of free punishment in essence,but the academic circles have not given it a unified definition.There are different names and types in foreign countries.As an exotic product,life imprisonment in China has become more and more heated in the academic circles since its incarceration because of its inherent shortcomings and the abstract provisions of few words in the criminal law provisions.From the point of view of the current legislation of life imprisonment,it should be defined as a possible way to suspend the execution of death penalty in the crime of corruption and bribery,whether from the perspective ofr literary interpretation or from the perspective of legal logic and judicial practice.Establishing life imprisonlent in our country is the trend of stringent crackdown on corruption crime in our country,which objectively controls and restricts the application of death penalty,improves the disparity between death penalty and life penalty,and effectively prevents possible judicial corruption in the process of execution of penalty.Of course,no system is perfect,which can be seen from judicial practice.Lifelong imprisonment is almost inevitable in the application of various problems.Firstly,in terms of legislation,there are no specific provisions on the sentencing conditions of life imprisonment in China,and there is no unified view on the retroactivity of life imprisonment and the relationship between major meritorious service.Secondly,in the judicial aspect,the establishment of life imprisonment will bring management inconvenience to the prison system,and a series of human and material resources investment will also bring a heavy financial burden to the executive organs.Based on the problems caused by life imprisonment,this paper intends to make in-depth analysis and put forward suggestions on the legislative trend of life imprisonment in China.Firstly,in the case of the existence of life imprisonment in legislation,we should further clarify the applicable standards of life imprisonment,and establish a way to re-enter the society of life imprisonment in order to better realize the transformation function of penalty to criminals and relieve the pressure of prison execution.At the same time,because of the severity of life imprisonment without commutation or parole,it is not appropriate to expand it to a larger scope,let alone to increase it to a separate type of punishment,so as to become an alternative measure to death penalty.Starting from judicial practice,the crime of corruption and bribery may be included in the adjustment scope of death sentence suspension restriction and commutation to overcome the congenital shortcolings and negative effects of life imprisonment.Under the background of death penalty reform,how to further promote the reform of China's penal system and make it more scientific and perfect still needs the joint efforts of all sectors of society.