What Is a Penalty Abatement?

Commutation refers to a type of criminal law enforcement activity that reduces the original sentence. Sentence reduction in the narrow sense means that criminals sentenced to control, detention, fixed-term imprisonment, and life imprisonment according to law have statutory commutation circumstances, and materials submitted by the agency responsible for the execution of the sentence, and the people's court shall provide criminal justice activities to reduce the original sentence; In the broadest sense, when a person is subject to criminal punishment, when the statutory sentence is available, the organ responsible for the execution of the sentence shall submit materials, and the people's court will reduce the criminal justice activities of the original sentence. It also covers the two-year suspension of executions, fines, probation, and commutation of deprivation of political rights after commutation of the principal sentence.

[jin xíng]

Commutation of sentence

Commutation of offenders sentenced to life imprisonment

According to Article 78 of the Criminal Law, commutation is divided into commutation and commutation. Sentences that can be commuted are the same as those for whom the sentence should be commuted and the limit conditions, except that the substantive conditions are different. For commutation of criminals, the following conditions must be met:

There are fewer provisions in the criminal law for commutation, and

Article 78 of the Criminal Law provides:

Sentenced to control,

Regulations of the Supreme People's Court on commutation and parole in 2014

• [Title of the Regulations] Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Trial Procedures for Commutation and Parole Cases ^[5]

  American Good Deductions

  In 1817, a law in the State of New York made the earliest provision for good deductions. According to the law, the prison authorities can reduce the sentence of offenders who perform well and serve more than 5 years in prison (the law is not applicable to short-term imprisonment), and the total reduced period must not exceed 1/4 of the original sentence. This system was quickly implemented across the United States. It must be clear that before the middle of the 19th century, the system of good deductions was a commutation system. However, since the parole system appeared in the late 19th century, the system of good deductions has gradually become an objective criterion for determining the date of parole, that is, the sentenced period minus the good deduction period is the date of release. In American criminal law, although commutation and good deduction coexist, good deduction has actually become the standard for determining the date of parole.

  The grounds for commutation in the United States criminal law are roughly: (1) the deterioration of the prisoner's health; (2) the prisoner's family's special situation; (3) the commutation authority's confirmation based on the nature, circumstances, or community opinion of the prisoner's crime The original sentence was too heavy; (4) The prisoner performed heroic acts or self-sacrifice during his sentence, such as saving the lives of others, willing to accept life-threatening medical experiments for the benefit of society, etc .; (5) Individual Circumstances arise from political considerations. It can be seen that the above reasons for commutation are no longer based on the offender's good performance to reduce the corresponding penalty, but only to shorten the execution of the penalty based on a series of subjective and objective conditions.

  U.S. prisoners now number 2.2 million

  Countries around the world have express penalties (typically in Russia). In order to solve the problem of difficult execution of penalties, almost all countries with high penalties have adopted penalties. The so-called fine penalty section means that if the penalty sentence declared for the offender cannot be enforced, other penalty or compulsory measures will be substituted for the declared penalty. The penalty system is actually a relief system for fines and a form of pressure.

  There are mainly the following forms of fine penalties: (1) Fine penalties are free. When the offender who is sentenced to a fine is unable to pay the fine, Yike freely punishes it instead of paying the fine. The criminal legislation of Germany, India, Czech Republic, Hungary and other countries all have such provisions. (2) Fines and penalties. If the offender sentenced to the fine cannot pay the fine, Yike restricts free labor instead of paying the fine. Criminal legislation in Japan and Taiwan has this requirement. (3) Yike free labor. If the offender sentenced to a fine cannot pay the fine, Yike does not restrict personal freedom of labor instead of paying the fine. The criminal legislation of Russia, Switzerland and other countries have such provisions. (4) Yike civil detention. According to the provisions of Articles 131-25 of the French Criminal Code, those who fail to pay the fine within the prescribed period shall be detained in the same manner as civil detention. Although the civil detention here deprives the criminal's personal freedom, it is not the same as free punishment.

  Russia's Yico is lighter

  For example , Article 32 (2) of the Criminal Execution Law of the Russian Federation states: "If the sentenced person does not have the possibility of paying the penalty once, the court may, according to the sentenced person's request and the opinion of the judicial executive, postpone payment and installment payment. "

  Article 46, paragraph 5, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation stipulates that when the sentenced person maliciously evades payment of the fine, the fine can be replaced by compulsory work, labor reform or seizure of property equivalent to the amount of the fine.

  Another example is Article 49 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation , which states that the competent authority may allow sentenced persons to perform public welfare work, in particular to substitute fines for state community work. If the sentenced person fails to pay the fine or replaces the fine with labor, the judge may order the fine to be transferred to prison.

  Russian President petitions State Duma for misdemeanor

  Of course, there are also unified expressions without making a detailed distinction. For example, Article 18, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the "Japanese Criminal Code" stipulates: "People who cannot pay the fine shall be detained in labor for a period of one day to two years. People who are unable to pay their materials should be detained in the labor camp for a period of one day to 30 days. "