Research On The Judicial Application Of The Old And Lighter Principle

Whenever the criminal law is amended and the new amendment is promulgated,there will be a new round of discussion in the judicial practice and academic circles for the judicial application of the retroactive force of the criminal law from the old and the lighter principle.The three issue discussion are the most important: A lighter punishment judgment;whether an additional penalty is included in the comparison;the cross application of the new(old)criminal law and the new(old)judicial interpretation to the light of the penalty.The life imprisonment of Bai Enpei,the former deputy director of the National People's Congress environment and Resources Protection Committee,has aroused the attention of scholars,and there is a heated discussion on whether the case violates the old and light principle.The case of Haas Battle,Qi Baisen,Wang Huifu in the case of bribery,due to the introduction of the new judicial interpretation,the judge in the application of the law and whether the defendant's criminal responsibility exists certain confusion,these perplexities are involved in how to understand from the old and light principle.There are not many studies on the above problems in academic circles.The study of the "old and light" principle judicial application has an important human rights value,which is worth a further research.Although the twelfth section of our criminal law clearly stipulates that the retroactive force of our criminal law adopts the principle of "both old and light",there are obvious deficiencies in our legislation on retroactivity.In order to protect the interest of defendant,we should apply the old andlight principle both in the conviction and the sentencing regardless of the procedural or substantive requirement.By perfecting legislation and improving institutional arrangements,restricting the “ judicial interpretation ” being over-applied,and improving the old and light principle application ability,we can guarantee the principle continuous improvement.