Research On The Penalty Setting Of Robbery

The crime of robbery is a traditional and frequent violent crime in China.The reasonable setting of its penalty can not only guarantee judicial justice but also effectively prevent crime.The reasonable setting of penalty for robbery should first comply with the legitimate basis of penalty setting.For the basis of penalty setting,the criminal law theorists put forward three views,namely absolutism,relativism and mergerism.Comparing with the one-sided limitations of absolutism and relativism as the basis of penalty setting,mergerism takes relativism into account on the basis of absolutism and integrate the advantages of absolutism and relativism well when it is used as the basis of penalty setting.Secondly,we should choose the appropriate penalty setting mode.In criminal legislation,there are two modes of connection for the setting of penalties in different stages of crime,namely,the cross mode and the connecting mode.Different connection modes of penalty settings combined with different aggravating factors produce different effects on the penalty results of crime.Based on the enumeration of aggravated causes of robbery,in theory,there is a reasonable possibility of penalty setting whether it is the combination of cross connection mode or the connecting connection mode.According to the provisions of China's criminal law,the current penalty setting mode of robbery crime is a combination of the enumeration of aggravating causes and the connecting mode.The principle of legality should abide by the legislative provisions.When the legislative provisions themselves are reasonable,the justice of conviction and sentencing of crimes in strict accordance with the legislative provisions can reasonably get a result of the fair adjudication.However,in practice,the application of aggravated penalty for robbery crime often appears to be legitimate in form but unreasonable in substance.Fundamentally,the problem of applying penalty to aggravated criminals of robbery is caused by the unreasonable penalty setting of robbery.The problems in the setting of the penalty for robbery are mainly reflected in the following aspects:the prescription based on enumeration of aggravating causes and the degree of social harmfulness of enumeration.The connecting mode in different stages of criminal punishment not only excessively limits the judicial discretion,but also violates the principle of balance of penalty setting.Based on the different degree of social harmfulness of aggravated circumstances and aggravated consequential crimes of robbery,setting the same penalty range for them is not conducive to the suppression of the results of malignant crimes.And the penalty range of aggravated robbery is too wide,which is not conducive to the realization of judicial justice.In the face of the dilemma of penalty application of aggravated robbery in China,the current penalty setting can not provide a good solution for it.Therefore,it is very necessary and important to improve the setting of robbery penalty.In view of the existing problems in the penalty setting of robbery crime,the improvement of the penalty setting of robbery crime can be started from the following perspectives:Based on the degree of social harmfulness of different crimes and the enumeration of aggravated causes,the crossing mode is adopted for the penalties of different stages of robbery crime,and a reasonable range of penalties is adjusted according to the degree of social harmfulness of aggravated crimes of robbery.For example,the death penalty is only applied to aggravated criminals who result in serious injury or death due to robbery.The reasonable setting of penalty for robbery can not only solve the problem of applying penalty to aggravated criminals of robbery in practice,but also have great theoretical value for the rational construction of the criminal law system.