Research On The Mitigation Of Punishment In China

The mitigation of punishment,that is the development trend of the mitigation of punishment,is a dynamic process of change.Throughout the history of the development of criminal law in the world,whether in foreign countries or in China,the development of punishment has gradually changed from barbarism to civilization,from cruelty to gentleness,manifested in the abolition of Corporal Punishment,the gradual abolition and restriction of the application of the death penalty,and the elevation of the status of the fine penalty,a variety of non-penalty penalty measures applied,so that the penalty becomes more lenient and mild.This is a concrete and vivid reflection of the continuous progress of human civilization.After the founding of New China,guided by the criminal policy of "combining leniency with severity",with the promulgation and implementation of the new criminal code from 1997,and after that the enactment of the 11 subsequent amendments to the Criminal Code,all of them reflect the development direction of our country’s penalty which is becoming more and more gentle.However,how to further achieve the mitigation of punishment,to choose a more appropriate path,is still a topic worthy of studying.There are different views in academic circles on the meaning of mitigation of punishment,including narrow,middle and broad views,the first two have greater limitations,and in a broad sense they are more comprehensive and reasonable.This article is based on the broad sense and takes the middle sense,that is the mitigation of punishment should include both crime and punishment,the strictness of the legal network is the premise of realizing the mitigation of punishment,and the adaptation of crime and punishment is the limit to grasp the mitigation of punishment,the alternative measure of penalty is the proper meaning of the mitigation of penalty.The development of the mitigation of punishment has its theoretical basis,which is mainly manifested in the humanity of punishment and the modesty and restraint of criminal law,as well as the limited function of punishment and the negativity of severe punishment;meantime,it is also the practical need of our country’s criminal law development.one is to reflect on and correct the past trend of severe punishment,the other is to respond to the “Combining leniency with severity”criminal policy needs.The promulgation and implementation of the Eleven Amendments to the Criminal Law,especially the eighth,ninth and Eleventh Amendments,In fact,it is a useful exploration of the reform of mitigatio in punishment,promoting moderate criminalization reflects the development direction of our country’s criminal legislation,adding misdemeanors,gradually reducing the death penalty and strictly limiting the application of the death penalty,expanding the scope of application of fines,and adding new criminals,penal punishment measures,etc.,all reflect the significant progress of our country’s criminal legislation in the mitigation of punishment.Of course,there are still some deficiencies such as the overall penalty structure is too heavy,the function of fine punishment is not fully reflected,and insufficient applicability of non-penalty measures.How to promote the reform of the mitigation of punishment in our country,can be carried out in a coordinated way by appropriately setting up two paths,that is adding a misdemeanor according to the needs of the protection of legal interests and judicial application,and further optimize the penalty structure,by appropriately setting up a strict criminal law net for misdemeanors,so as to achieve compatibility between crime,responsibility and punishment;by further optimizing the penalty structure and following the principle of value rank of “The right to life,the right to freedom,and the right to property”,and by accurately allocating the death penalty,improve the status of fines,further rationally expand the scope of application of fines,and improve the scope of application of non-penalty measures and specific measures,so as to better play the function of the criminal law guarantee law.