Study Of The Impact Of Victims’ Fault On Criminal Liability

In cases where there was more interaction between the victim and the offender,the victim’s misconduct had an inescapable responsibility for the criminal act and the harmful results,and on this basis,it had an impact on the criminal responsibility of the offender.Theoretical studies on the fault of the victim have pushed the binary criminal-legal relationship between the state and the offender to a ternary relationship between the state,the offender,and the victim.Since China has not legalized the victim’s fault circumstance at the legal level,there is no norm or clear reference standard that can be relied on in judicial practice.When there is a need to convict and sentence the offender with the victim’s fault,the actual application rate of the "victim’s fault" circumstance is low due to the difficulties of identification,insufficient evidential power and selective applicability.The criteria for determining the fault of the victim and the degree of impact of the victim’s fault on criminal liability are not uniform,leaving judges with more room for discretion,which makes it difficult for the victim’s fault circumstance to play a role in conviction and sentencing and reflect its value.In-depth exploration of the impact of the victim’s fault on the criminal responsibility of the offender is not only the intention of many scholars in the academic field,but also caters to the urgent needs of judicial practice.This paper is divided into four parts.The first part starts with the identification and application status of the victim’s fault,and explains the concepts of the victim,the victim’s fault and the criminal responsibility.The second part is an exploration of the legitimacy of the victim’s fault affecting criminal responsibility,which is analyzed from three aspects: theory,legislation and justice.The third part focuses on the controversy of victim’s fault affecting criminal responsibility,including the method of determining victim’s fault and the impact of victim’s fault on criminal responsibility of the offender.The fourth part is to point out the problems of victim’s fault affecting criminal liability in practice,and provide corresponding solution paths for these problems.