What Does a Parole Lawyer Do?

The parole system is based on Article 81 (1) of China's Criminal Law. Parole refers to criminals who have been sentenced to life imprisonment and life imprisonment. After a certain period of execution, they seriously abide by the supervision regulations and undergo education reform. A system that will no longer endanger society and therefore releases it conditionally in advance. Parole is a conditional penalty system for early release. Parole offenders must abide by certain conditions during the trial period. Otherwise, the parole should be revoked and executed. According to Article 86 of China's Criminal Law, if a criminal who has been paroled commits a new crime within the trial period of parole or finds that he has no other crimes before the verdict is announced, parole should be revoked, in accordance with Articles 71 and 1 of the Criminal Law. The provisions of Article 70 impose multiple penalties.

Parole system

Chinese name: Parole system
in accordance with: Article 81, paragraph 1, of our criminal law

Features: Criminals with imprisonment and life imprisonment
Claim: Repentance does not endanger society

According to Article 81 (1) of China's Criminal Law, parole refers to criminals who have been sentenced to life imprisonment and life imprisonment. After performing a certain sentence, they seriously perform compliance with prison regulations and undergo educational reforms. Society, and therefore a conditional release system in advance. Parole has the following characteristics:

(1) Parole is premised on execution of a certain period of punishment

Parole is an early release under certain conditions, so it must be premised on the execution of a certain period of punishment. Only after a certain period of punishment has been executed can the appraisal of the prisoner's performance while serving his sentence be made in order to decide on parole.

(2) Parole is based on repentance of the prisoner during his sentence

In general, after the prisoner is sentenced to a sentence, the sentence imposed on him shall be fully implemented, and he may be released from prison only when his sentence has expired. However, if the prisoner shows remorse during his sentence, it indicates that the personal danger of the prisoner has been eliminated. In this case, it is no longer necessary to continue with the remaining penalties. For this reason, the issue of parole has arisen. It can be seen that parole is a reward measure for prisoners. It should be said that the origin and development of the parole system is closely related to the evolution of the concept of criminal law. Before the 19th century, the theory of the criminal classical school held a dominant position in the fields of criminal legislation and criminal justice. The retributivism in the criminal classical school believes that punishment for the offender is a kind of retribution. The degree of sci-fi punishment should be based on the severity of the facts of the crime. Therefore, the punishment of retribution, just like debt, must be repaid in full, that is, the punishment must be fully executed. This is not only a demand for retribution of the offender, but also a threat to the general public in society. As of the 19th century, the school of criminal positivism raised the idea of education punishment, and believed that the purpose of punishment was not retribution or intimidation, but education reform and correction of criminals. In this case, if the prisoner performs well before his sentence has expired, indicating that he has been corrected, he should be released from prison early. Therefore, the idea of educational punishment provides a theoretical basis for the parole system. In this sense, the parole system is a product of the idea of educational punishment.

(3) Parole is conditional on the performance of the prisoner during the test period

The early release of parole is subject to certain conditions, that is, no legal reason for revoking parole occurred during the parole test period. Therefore, although parole is a case of release, it is completely different from the normal release of a sentence. Formally, parole and release from prison are both lifting prison and restoring the person's personal freedom, but there is a difference in nature: release at the end of a sentence is due to the completion of the punishment. Implementation issues. Parole is conditional early release, and there is also the possibility of being sentenced to imprisonment to carry out the residual penalty.

(I) Object conditions

Parole is only applicable to criminals sentenced to life imprisonment or life imprisonment, except for recidivists and criminals who have been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison and life imprisonment for violent crimes such as murder, bombing, robbery, rape, abduction. Parole is a conditional early release for criminals, and at the same time, the state does not rule out the possibility of continuing to execute the part of the sentence that has not yet been executed. This feature determines that parole does not apply to criminals sentenced to other sentences. The death penalty was executed immediately, and because of its special nature, there was no question of parole. The two-year suspension of the death penalty does not directly apply parole. Parole can only be applied after the death sentence has been reduced to life imprisonment or life imprisonment. The sentence of detention is short, and the application of parole has no practical significance. If the criminal sentenced to detention does show repentance, he may declare a probation or commutation. Criminals sentenced to control, because they are not executed in prison, restrict only part of their freedom and there is no need to apply parole. That is to say, other types of penalties cannot be or do not need to be applied to parole because of their nature, due to the way they are implemented, or because of shorter sentences.

(II) Substantial conditions

Criminals earnestly abide by the supervision regulations, receive education and reform, and indeed show repentance. After parole, they will not endanger the society. This is the essential condition for parole. According to the provisions of Article 10 of the previously cited judicial interpretation, the term "not to endanger the society" here means that the offender has consistently performed well during the execution of the punishment, and indeed has the conditions listed in Article 1 (1) of these regulations, and does not cause illegal or re-offending. Or they are elderly, physically disabled (excluding disability caused by suicide), and lose their ability to commit crimes. Among them, the circumstances listed in Article 1 (1) of the judicial interpretation are: (1) confession of sins; (2) consistent adherence to criminal reform behavior norms and prison discipline; (3) active participation in political, cultural, and technical learning; (4) Actively participate in labor, take care of public property, and complete labor tasks.

(3) Time conditions

Parole applies only to criminals who have already executed part of their sentence. Criminals sentenced to life imprisonment or life imprisonment must also execute a portion of their sentences before parole can be applied. This is because only by carrying out a certain period of punishment can it be more accurately judged whether the criminals have seriously complied with the supervision regulations, received educational reforms, and indeed show repentance, so as not to endanger the society and ensure the effect of parole. Stability and the seriousness of the law. According to Article 81 of the Criminal Law and relevant judicial interpretations, criminals sentenced to life imprisonment can only be applied on parole for more than 13 years. Criminals who have been reduced to life imprisonment should still be actually executed for more than 13 years according to the original life imprisonment before parole can be applied. Parole is applicable to criminals sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment, and the starting time of executing more than one-half of the original sentence shall be calculated from the date of detention. In order to make the application of parole flexible, Article 81 of the Criminal Law of our country also stipulates that: "If there are special circumstances, with the approval of the Supreme People's Court, the above-mentioned restrictions on the execution of the sentence can be exempted." The special situation here refers to the situation with special needs in national politics, national defense, diplomacy, etc.

According to the provisions of Article 82 and Article 79 of the Criminal Law, for parole of criminals, the executive organ shall submit a parole proposal to the people's court above the intermediate level. The people's court shall form a collegiate panel for trial, and those who meet the statutory conditions for parole shall be ordered to be released on parole. No parole is allowed without legal procedures.

For parole of a sentenced prisoner, a parole proposal should be submitted by the criminal enforcement agency where the offender is located, and it should be submitted to the local intermediate people's court for ruling. Parole for life imprisonment (including offenders whose original execution has been suspended for reduced execution to life imprisonment) shall be given a parole proposal by the punishment enforcement agency where the offender is located, and submitted to the judicial department (bureau) of the province, autonomous region, or municipality for review and approval , Asking the local high people's court to rule.

According to the parole proposal submitted by the punishment enforcement agency, the people's court tried the parliamentary court. If the criminals did show repentance and did not endanger the society, they made a parole ruling according to law.

Article 81 of the Criminal Law states: sentenced

Parole is the conditional release of criminals who are serving a sentence of reform. This early release does not mean that the punishment has been completed, but that the criminals will be reformed in society during the execution of the penalty. In a certain sense, parole is only a change in the place where the penalty is enforced, not a change in the penalty itself. For this reason, the criminal law makes clear the inspection of parole offenders.

(1) Supervisory authority for parole offenders

According to Article 85 of the Criminal Law, criminals who are paroled shall be supervised by the public security organs during the parole test period.

(2) Test period for parole offenders

The criminal parole test period varies with the original sentence and execution. According to Article 83 of the Criminal Law, criminals sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment will be tested on parole for the duration of the original sentence not completed, that is, the remaining period of the original sentence when parole was announced. For example, for a criminal who was sentenced to 15 years in prison, after the original sentence was executed for 10 years, because he did show repentance and did not harm the society, he decided to apply parole to him. The test period for his parole is 15 years. 5 years of imprisonment. It can be seen that the criminal law only provides a principled provision for the duration of the parole test. When a criminal who was originally sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment pronounced parole, the length of the test period of his parole varies according to the length of his remaining sentence. At the same time, the criminal law makes clear and specific provisions on the period of parole testing for life imprisonment. Criminals who have been sentenced to life imprisonment have been tested on parole for 10 years. In other words, when a criminal sentenced to life imprisonment was originally issued on parole, his parole test period was fixed, that is, 10 years.

According to Article 83 (2) of the Criminal Law, the trial period for parole is calculated from the date of parole. The test period of parole is calculated from the date of parole. For criminals sentenced to life imprisonment and life imprisonment, there will be different legal consequences. The trial period for the parole of a criminal sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment is relatively determined. The length of the trial period is determined by the date of parole. Criminals get parole earlier, and the trial period of their parole is relatively long; late parole, the trial period of their parole is relatively short. But whether the test period is long or short, it ends with the end of its original sentence. The term of a criminal sentenced to life imprisonment is uncertain in a certain sense, but the test period is definite. Therefore, the offender gets the parole early, and the trial period of his parole starts early; the time of parole is late , The trial period for his parole is counted as late. Obviously, the sooner a life prisoner gets parole, the better, and the later, the worse.

(3) Provisions to be followed by parole offenders

According to Article 84 of the Criminal Law, criminals who have been pronounced on parole should abide by the following rules: (1) comply with laws, administrative regulations, and obey supervision; (2) report their activities in accordance with the regulations of the supervisory authority; (3) observe Regulations of the supervisory authority on meeting guests; (4) Leaving the city, county or residence where they live shall report to the supervisory authority for approval.

(4) Investigation contents of parole

According to the provisions of Article 85 of the Criminal Law, the investigation of the parole criminals is mainly to examine whether they have the conditions stipulated in Article 86 of the Criminal Law during the parole test period, that is, whether they have committed new crimes or found omissions, and whether they have violated the law. , Administrative regulations or the regulations of the public security department of the State Council on the supervision and administration of parole. If there is no circumstance stipulated in Article 86 of the Criminal Law and the parole test period has expired, the original sentence shall be deemed to have been executed and it shall be announced publicly. If there is a circumstance as stipulated in Article 86 of the Criminal Law, parole is revoked, multiple crimes are punished in accordance with the provisions of multiple crimes and punishment, or the prison sentence that has not been executed is executed.

Parole is a conditional penalty system for early release. Parole offenders must abide by certain conditions during the trial period. Otherwise, the parole should be revoked and executed. According to Article 86 of China's Criminal Law, if a criminal who has been paroled commits a new crime within the trial period of parole or finds that he has no other crimes before the verdict is announced, parole should be revoked, in accordance with Articles 71 and 1 of the Criminal Law. The provisions of Article 70 impose multiple penalties. Criminals who have been paroled, during the parole test period, have violated laws, administrative regulations or the provisions of the public security department of the State Council on the supervision and management of parole and have not constituted a new crime. Parole shall be revoked in accordance with legal procedures. Punishment. Therefore, the reasons for the revocation of parole in China's criminal law are as follows: (1) New crimes are committed again, and there are no restrictions on new crimes. It should be pointed out that the re-offence of new crimes indicates that the conditions for parole offenders to no longer endanger the society have disappeared, and criminals still have certain personal dangers, so parole should be revoked. (2) Found a leak. During the trial of parole, the guilty omission of parole was discovered, and the guilty concealment was deliberately concealed by the criminals, which shows that he did not show repentance, and it is difficult to believe that it will no longer harm the society, and of course parole should be revoked. (3) Illegal acts. Illegal behaviors here refer to violations of laws, administrative regulations or regulations of the public security department of the State Council on parole supervision and management with serious circumstances. In this regard, parole should be revoked in accordance with legal procedures, and unfinished penalties should be imposed on the prison. ^[1]

In practice, the prison even not bothered to notify the local police and other relevant departments. This not only provides a huge space for the rich and the elite, and even powerful underworld figures to seek parole, as long as suitable bribes can be found. Most of the loopholes were exploited by corrupt officials who were no longer monitored by the media after they were sentenced. They use their strong network built during their tenure to get away easily.

The widespread abuse of the parole system has drawn high-level attention. In the five years before March 2013, China's Supreme People's Procuratorate has corrected commutation and parole cases involving more than 52,000 people. Nonetheless, the relevant authorities have been slow to check for defects in the parole system and strengthen supervision. ^[2]

What Does a Parole Lawyer Do?

Parole system

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