On The Application And Improvement Of Life Imprisonment System In China

In order to reflect the policy requirements of severely punishing corruption crimes and using the death penalty with caution,with the promulgation of the Ninth Amendment to the Criminal Law in China,the life imprisonmen t system was officially introduced into Criminal law in China,and its legal orientation is a“life imprisonment”execution method attached to death sentence with a two-year reprieve.The introduction of the life imprisonment system not only sternly punishes the corruption,but also promotes the death penalty's reform process,and also compensates for the shortcomings of“death penalty is too heavy and liberty penalty is too light”in the penalty structure in China.Besides it can avoiding the wrong death penalt y case occurs,contributing to the cooperation of international justice.So it embodies enormous legislative value.Through in-depth analysis of the relevant regulations of the life imprisonment system,it can find out that the following controversial issue s exist in the application of life imprisonment: First,the current life imprisonment system in our country only were suitable for the field of corruption and bribery crimes,and its application were confined to too single,resulting in the chaos of felony and misdemeanor is contrary to the principle of suiting responsibility and punishment to crime;Second,its unclear legal provisions do not have a uniform and clear implementation standard,which leads to the judge's discretionary power being too large,wh ich may lead to judicial injustice and judicial corruption,damaging the credibility of our country's judiciary;Third,life-time prisoners cannot obtain the opportunity to leave the prison through significant meritorious service or the conditions applicab le to the temporary execution of the prison,lacking the means of redemption,which is not conducive to their educational reform;Fourth,the application of life imprisonment without commutation or parole will bring about a difficult problem of judicial co sts;Fifth,the life imprisonment system without commutation or parole in China cannot deviate from the development trend of “light punishment”of criminal legislation,and contrary to the humanitarian spirit advocated by today's society.In order to comply with the trend of gradual development of punishment,embodying the purpose of penal prevention and the principle of adapting crimes and punishments,starting from the concept of human rights protection,we propose some suggestions for improving our countr y's life imprisonment system from the following aspects.First,determine life imprisonment as a new sentence,and form a reasonable ladder between the penalties in the criminal law structure system;Second,extend life imprisonment to drug-related crimes and crimes against national security,and even all death sentences,and gradually abolish the death penalty through legislation;Third,complete some vague provisions of the current life imprisonment system in order to limit the discretion of judges,thereby guaranteeing legal authority and judicial fairness;Fourth,by improving China's pardon system to preserve a good door for life imprisoned prisoner;Fifth,in the implementation process,fully guarantee the temporary enforcement of life imprisonment,material r ewards,meeting and communication with relatives,guardians,and cultural and other basic rights,reflecting penalty for the spirit of humane care and the level of rule of law in the country.