The Study On The Improvement Of The Death Penalty Review Procedure

As the special procedure besides the " Two-trial system", the death penalty review procedure is specifically applicable to capital cases and plays a very important role in implementing our country's criminal policy,which is "less killing, careful killing and preventing victimizes", controling the amount of the death penalty and ensuring the correct application of the death penalty. But, the death penalty review procedure is far from perfection, especially the decentralization of Death Penalty, resulting in a lot of disadvantages and making it difficult to play its due role. On January 1, 2007, the power of the death penalty review reverts to the Supreme People's Court,which is greatly significant to the improvement of the death penalty review procedure. However, taking the death penalty review power back is just the first step for the improvement of the death penalty review procedure. At present, there are still some problems in our country's death penalty review procedure, such as the way of death penalty review procedure starting with the initiative,the way of review being contrary to due process, lack of effective supervision of the prosecution,no deadline limit and so on,therefore,there is still a long way to go for improvement of the death penalty review procedure.This paper introduces the basic theory of the death penalty review procedure,holds that the death penalty review procedure has the mixed nature,which is administrative and trial,and advocates that the value orientations of the death penalty review procedure should be human rights protection and due process. Basing on the death penalty review system in ancient and the death penalty relief provisions in the international representative countries which retain the death penalty, refering to research results in our country academic circle regarding to reforming and improving the death penalty review procedure, combining with our judicial practice, in view of the mixed nature of the death penalty review procedure,the paper advocates that we should establish the death penalty review procedure which not only has the characteristics of the administrative procedure but also has the characteristics of the trial procedure, and on this basis, puts forward some specific improvement ideas,that implementing the startup mode which is started by he opposition parties and the courts for different types of death penalty review cases, implementing the way of writing and trial methods, enhancing the defendant's right of defense, carrying out the function of the legal supervision of prosecution, increasing the number of the collegial panel appropriately for different cases and implementing the rule of being adopted unanimously, fixing different deadlines of the review according to the different cases, in order to improve our country's death penalty review procedure beneficially.