On The Application Of Life Imprisonment In The Crime Of Corruption And Bribery

Article IX of the Criminal Law Amendment Act No.383 of the original Criminal Law has made major changes,including the introduction of life imprisonment as a way to combat serious corruption and bribery,and the limited conditions of its application in principle.As a new way of punishment,the general provisions obviously can not meet the needs of judicial practice.Therefore,according to the provisions of the Criminal Law and the relevant judicial interpretation,this article discusses the legal nature,applicable conditions and execution of life imprisonment from the basis of life imprisonment.This article attempts to answer the following three questions.Firstly,as the basis for the application of "life imprisonment" with Chinese characteristics in judicial practice;secondly,the legal nature and discretion of life imprisonment;and thirdly,the problems which criminals who are imprisoned for the rest of life face in the execution of the penalty.Life imprisonment which is attached to the implementation of the death penalty has been introduced to the Criminal Law Amendment Nine as a kind of death penalty.The statutory principle of crime and the adaptable principle between crime and punishment are applicable legal bases.Besides,Criminal Law and the relevant judicial interpretation of its application are the legislative bases.There are different opinions on the legal nature of life imprisonment,such as the theory about different kinds of punishment,alternative measures that are equal to the death penalty and other views.This article holds that the legal nature of life imprisonment should be defined as a death penalty system attaching to the execution of the death penalty system.The legal nature of life imprisonment determines that we should consider six factors in the judicial practice,namely the time effect,the condition,the amount and the crime circumstances,the crime consequence,the sentencing circumstances and the criminal policy.First of all,in the time effect,the law should adhere to the principles of tradition and alleviation.Secondly,as professional provisions sentencing corruption and bribery,it only applies to corruption and bribery.In addition,due to life imprisonment attaching to the death sentence system,the application of life imprisonment also needs to meet the following standards:huge amount of corruption and bribery,quite serious crime circumstances and causing significant losses and wicked social impact to our country and citizens.Although they have been defined by the criminal law and the relevant judicial interpretation,most of the provisions are impractical,which still need legal workers to wield the law accurately when solving this kind of crime.In the end,the application of life imprisonment also needs to adapt to the current criminal policies that combat corruption and bribery legally.Applicable law should insist on leniency and carrying out the death penalty cautiously.The exact application of life imprisonment ultimately depends on the execution of the penalty,and the distinction between the death penalty period and reducing to life imprisonment should be explained clearly.If the offender has significant meritorious service during the trial period,the trial period can be reduced to a term of imprisonment,while in the case of life imprisonment the sentence can not be commuted for serious meritorious service.If criminals sin during the implementation of the crime,they also should be in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 50 of the criminal law to deal with.The perpetrators can also be exempted from life imprisonment because of special amnesty.