The Research On Euthanasia In Criminal Law

Euthanasia isn't a new problem, but contains the theoretical value and practicalsignificance of the study. At the theoretical aspect, it not only can deepen the study ofthe legitimate ground in criminal law, but also promote the reform of the theory ofcrime constitution. At the practical aspect, it not only can provide theoretical supportfor the euthanasia legislation, but also provide theoretical guidance to the judicialpractice. By using comparative research methods, and empirical research methods andinterdisciplinary research methods, this paper explores the concept of euthanasia fromthe social reality of China, and proposes solutions in China.Firstly, this paper studies the world trend and the reality of china of theeuthanasia in order to provide worthy experiences for the subsequent research. In theworld trend, it roughly divides into three types according to the different attitudestowards euthanasia: the countries of the legalization of euthanasia, the countries of thelegalization of euthanasia in judicial practice, and euthanasia illegal countries. Theresearch methods not only introduce the status quo, but also explore the reasons forthe different positions. This doesn't occur in the previous research. In the reality ofChina, euthanasia is still a tangling problem for Chinese, the most direct expression isopposite between the official attitudes and the civil positions. The government isnegative on euthanasia, however, the majority of people support euthanasia in china.At the same time, the scholars get no progress in theoretical research on euthanasiaand show four characteristics: the premise of the discussion isn't uniform, the theoryisn't universal, the theory lacks empirical research, euthanasia is regarded as anegative thing in the field of criminal law.In the second chapter, this paper mainly discusses the connotation and denotationof euthanasia in order to lay the foundation for subsequent discussions. On thebasement of collecting the representative concepts of euthanasia, we can find thatalthough they are the legal concepts of euthanasia, these concepts are not entirelyconsistent, which can be summarized as three identical points and seven differentpoints. A relatively reasonable concept of euthanasia must have seven conditions byanalyzing the similarities and differences of these concepts and defining the premiseof euthanasia concept: the purpose of euthanasia must be limited to remove the dyingpatient's agony; euthanasia must be used for the patients who is close to death with an incurable disease; the premise of euthanasia must adhere to the patient's active andvoluntary principle; euthanasia must be used in a certain period before the patient isdying; euthanasia can only be implemented by a doctor; the method of euthanasiashould be ethically appropriate; euthanasia must be reviewed and approved by thespecial agencies. At present, the representative classifications of euthanasia generallyhave the following kinds: dichotomy, trichotomy, quartering, quintiles. We cangradually exclude that the kind does not belong to euthanasia on the basement ofinspecting euthanasia classifications and by establishing the standards such as,reductive standard, mutually exclusive standard, differentiated standard and valuablestandard. We believe that euthanasia includes both positive euthanasia and negativeeuthanasia. However, if we insist on the valuable standard, the main object of thisarticle can only be positive euthanasia which need to be discussed in the law field.After determining the common premise, this paper investigates the rationality ofeuthanasia from empirical perspective and logical perspective. From the empiricalperspective, we investigate the concept of euthanasia from the seven conditions ofeuthanasia by selecting ten typical cases of euthanasia. At the same time, we study thejudgment of the above-mentioned cases and analyze the logic of not-guilty andconviction ideas. We can draw three conclusions from empirical research: the first isthat the concept of euthanasia is confused as well as a way outï¼›the second iscontradictory positions and reasons for euthanasia; the third is that there are threereasons for or against euthanasia. If we demonstrate the reasonableness of euthanasiain the logical perspective, we must proceed from the following two aspects: Firstly, itrequires three perspectives to demonstrate the validity of euthanasia, such as the deathof philosophy, social ethics, and the medical field. Now the humanity are positivetowards death in the death of philosophy and insists on the principle of the individualdeath and subjective death, which is able to provide theoretical support for euthanasia.If we insist on that euthanasia is to relieve pain and maintain humanitarian stance, andcorrectly understand filial piety in China's traditional culture, and note the reality ofthe multicultural period in China, we can accept euthanasia from the perspective ofsocial ethics. From the medical field, the connotation of modern medical ethics is inline with the value of euthanasia in the standpoint of moral theory, and euthanasiadoes not hinder the development of modern medicine in the standpoint of theconsequences. Secondly, we refute the concern about the consequences of the legalization of euthanasia and prove the legalization of euthanasia will not have badconsequences. The main reasons are the followings: the legalization of euthanasia willnot lead to moral decline; the legalization of euthanasia does not necessarily lead tocrime wave; dening euthanasia doesn't protect the dignity of life.We demonstrate the reasonableness of euthanasia and try to exclude people'sworry about the consequences of the legalization of euthanasia in the previous chapter.We need to continue to explain how to solve the crime problem of euthanasia underno legislation in China because euthanasia is justified and will not have negativeconsequences. The exclusion of crime of euthanasia in the criminal Law mainlysolves two problems: The first is how to find the euthanasia's nature in the criminallaw which is reasonable behavior in the social life. It can be found that differentpositions are due to different concepts of euthanasia by examining the existingpositions in criminal law. We must correctly understand the concept of euthanasia ifwe want to determine that the euthanasia is criminal or not. Whether in terms of thedelineation of the crime circle, or from the purpose of the penalty, euthanasia is notnecessary to be defined as a crime. The victims commitment theory doesn't explainthe legitimate ground of euthanasia; the opinion of measuring legal interests can notbecome the substance principle of euthanasia legitimation; the social quite conductstheory can prove that euthanasia is legal, but isn't suitable to be used directly atpresent. We can draw the conclusion that euthanasia is legal by the theory ofpossibility of anticipation.The second is the road to the exclusion of crime. Theauthor believe that there are two solutions by studing the old roads: now we can putthe legitimate ground into the theory of crime constitution, which means we respectthe traditional theory of crime constitution; in the future we should reform thetraditional theory of crime constitution of china thoroughly, and directly adopt thecriminal system of the civil law, or reconstruct our theory by the thinking of criminalsystem of the civil law.The analysis of chapter IV in this article provides non-criminal approach for us,but this is a realistic solution, we also need to find a more reasonable idealization. Inother words, the non-criminal approach is realistic and the legalization of euthanasiais idealistic. We must recognize that the legalization of euthanasia is an inevitabletrend of human society. So we must question the right of euthanasia and prepareappropriate systems to achieve the realism, such as improve the social security system and medical insurance system, promote hospice and health care reform, match withthe relevant laws. The legalization of euthanasia need to comply with strict conditions,which depend on not only the provision of the legislation but also a series of reforms,such as economic conditions, the social security system, medical insurance system,social values, religious ideas. So we have to take a progressive path, which meansfrom the convicted and punished mode now to the mode of reducing punishmentspecifically, further to the mode of non-punishment, lastly to the legal mode. Weneed a pilot basis in order to realize the legalization of euthanasia gradually.