刑事法律的合宪性思考——一种审视民主的视角

民主的不一定就是善的,即便是民主的刑事立法,也有其合宪性的根本诉求与制约。对于刑事法律来说,其合宪性的基本要求是:什么是刑事法律不能进行立法的。在中国,民主语境下的刑事法律的合宪性的基本要求是,宪法规定的基本人权,应当受到刑事法律的敬畏与敬重;犯罪嫌疑人与被告人乃至罪犯,作为法秩序的主体,刑事立法对于他们必须有着制度的尊重。

Democratic is not necessarily good. Even a democratic criminal law may still fail to meet the requirement of constitutionality. In China, constitutionality of criminal law in democratic context requires that the criminal law must respect the basic human rights provided for in the Constitution and that criminal suspects, criminal defendants, even convicted criminals, as subjects of legal order, must enjoy institutional respect from the criminal law.