Research On Criminal Legislation Of Passion Crime

Crime of passion is the kind of violent criminal act that perpetrator loses his emotional control by strong incitement.Both the Anglo American law system and the continental law system regard crime of passion as a factor of reducing feason responsibility stipulated in the criminal law,in order to distinguish intentional crime.Crime of passion roots in the research field of criminology,neither a type of crime nor circumstances of crime stipulated in the criminal law but it exists in the judicial interpretation and judicial cases in our country.Especially in the judicial practice of intentional homicide,it is widely recognized as the discretion of leniency,but it is lack of uniform provisions in legislation.There are different understandings and view points in the current studies.The lack of legislation in the judicial practice leads to different standards of identification and application of punishment.Due to the different ways of punishment caused by public opinion,administrative intervention and rioting from the families of the victims,the application of crime of passion falls into disorder and even becomes rent-seeking powers.Therefore,this article analyses and discusses crime of passion from three aspects: the concept and characteristics of the basic behavior,criminal responsibility and legislative feasibility.The first part of this article tries to untangle the theoretical origin and academic point of view on crime of passion from the perspective of criminology.It compares different research purpose and emphasis both on criminology and criminal law.Criminology focuses main on the behavior characteristics,causes and preventive measures,while criminal law focuses main on the constitution of crime,criminal responsibility and appropriateness of punishment.From the view point of criminal law,crime of passion is the kind of violent criminal act that perpetrator loses his emotional control by victim's improper language stimulation,which influences his behavior identification and control ability.The main characteristics are violent,emergent,transient and emotional.At the same time,from the legislation of crime of passion in different countries,it is quite different in the provisions of stimulating factors.The induction of stimulating factors has great significance for its identification and punishment.Since crime of passion constitutes a crime,it should be evaluated by the criminal law.So is there any theoretical basis for the lenient punishment of crime of passion in the criminal law? The second part of this paper wants to analyze criminal responsibility and the influence of passion stimulation on criminal responsibility.Whether crime of passion conforms to the legitimate reasons is also discussed in this part.Since crime of passion is acted under improper stimulation by the victims which leads to perpetrator's decline in cognitive ability and reaction capacity,the author thinks that crime of passion can be lenientconsideration and be partially forgiven.Crime of passion is rarely regulated in the criminal law,similar lenient sentencing circumstances exist only in the judicial interpretation.The lack of concept and definition standard,no unified understanding in judicial circles and theoretical realm cause that crime of passion cannot be correctly and reasonably apply like other criminal law concept such as self-defense.The third part is based on the criminal legislation of crime of passion.Firstly,research on relevant provisions and legislative models of crime of passion in different countries,mainly are general rules,specific provisions and general plus specific provisions.Secondly,sort out legislative history of crime of passion and passion killings in ancient China.And comment on current situation in legislation in our country.According to our country's legislation,specific provisions are much more appropriate for crime of passion,which can avoid dispute and misapplication.Finally,referring to the legislation rules abroad and our country's judicial practice,the legislation of crime of passion should be based on the legalization of lenient circumstances,application of specific charges,specialization of establishment conditions,rules of character evidence and limitations on crime of passion's proviso.Not only can bring crime of passion into criminal law system,but also can give strict restrictions to prevent abuse,safeguard judicial justice and embody the principle of punishment fits the crime.