Research On The Duress In The Criminal Law

In the criminal law, the duress refers to a kind of anti-social behaviors implementedby actor who were being forced by violence. Its property is different from general criminalbehaviors. There are lots of controversies on the property of the duress in the theoreticalcircle of criminal law, but the countries of common law system generally define the duressas a kind of forgivable reason, most countries of the civil law system define the duress as aspecial type of the urgent act of rescue. In essence, the duress should be defined as anindependent factor of exception clause. First of all, duress is a kind of illegal behaviors.Because duress is a danger to society, this behavior is banned by criminal law. The suffererhas the right to self-defense, the accessories also should assume their respective liabilities.These all eliminate the legitimacy of duress. But the actor shouldn’t be punished, becausethe actor has no criminal intention, criminal tendencies or anticipated possibility. In factor,the intimidator should bear the responsibility.The theories of the urgent act of rescue and coerced offender both involve thesubstance of duress in China’s criminal law, but blurred lines and less system of legal normresulting in different judgments in similar cases in the judicial practice. In fact there is anessential difference among the urgent act of rescue, the coerced offender and the duress. Itis necessary to perfect the theory of the duress in criminal law, and define the duress as anindependent factor of exception clause.