“死囚等待”——美国的不立即执行死刑制度及其启示

A Study on the Death Penalty without Immediate Execution in the U. S.

美国的"死囚等待"是一种不立即执行死刑的制度,起到了防止错杀和减少死刑的作用。"死囚等待"时间过长,是美国司法体制下必要又无奈的代价。我国《刑法》规定的"死缓"亦属于不立即执行死刑制度,也起到了减少死刑的作用,但该制度不是针对所有死囚,死刑核准后的"立即执行"仍是错杀的温床。面对美国的"死囚等待",我们应取长补短;立足于我国的"死缓",扬长避短;建议扩大我国的不立即执行死刑制度,使其成为死刑判决的救济途径。

In U. S.,awaiting execution on death row prevents the immediate execution after a death sentence. The unduly long delays in death row reflect the struggling of American criminal justice system w hich attempts to provide capital defendants w ith constitutional shields based on tedious and defective death penalty procedures. How ever,the delays on death penalty,to some extent,not only prevent the government from executing the innocent people,but also reduce the actual number of execution. As a unique death penalty policy in China,death sentence w ith tw o years suspended execution is an alternative to immediate execution after a capital sentence,and thus plays a role in reducing execution. How-ever,this policy is not designed for all capital defendants,and some of these defendants can still be sentenced to death w ith an immediate execution after the review and approval from the Supreme People's Court. This type of death sentence still bears the risk of executing innocent people. Given the delayed execution in the U. S.,China is in a position to capitalize and improve the policy of death penalty w ithout immediate execution,w hile overcome the side effects of theexcessive delay on death row as observed in the U. S..