我国终身监禁制度的法理意涵与应然面向

Legal Meaning and Ideal Orientation of Life Imprisonment in China

我国《刑法修正案(九)》第44条新设的贪污受贿犯罪之死缓犯终身监禁制度,是在我国司法改革和法治反腐背景下,对贪污受贿犯罪慎用死刑和惩治腐败的有机结合,其具备深化死刑改革和严惩腐败犯罪的双重功能。终身监禁制度依附于死缓制度而存在,其刑罚严厉性介于死刑立即执行与一般死缓之间,故其属于一种典型的中间刑罚。当前,我国终身监禁的司法适用率较低,其中夹杂了部分司法实务者与理论研究者对终身监禁制度法理意涵之误读。为还终身监禁制度以应然面向,未来我国有必要从以下三个面向对终身监禁制度予以重构:其一,结合我国死刑改革之发展趋向,审慎扩张终身监禁制度的适用范围;其二,发挥终身监禁之制度优势,通过修法的方式增补适用重大立功之规定;其三,严格遵循"从旧兼从轻"的刑法溯及力原则,重点依据刑罚轻重来判定终身监禁的时间效力。

Under the background of judicial reform and the rule of law against corruption and An organic combination of the death penalty and the punishment of corruption for corruption and bribery,the life imprisonment system is stipulated in article 44 of the Amendment to the Criminal Law (IX),which has the double function of deepening the reform of death penalty and punishing corruption crime.Existing in the system of death mitigation,the severity of the life imprisonment system is between the immediate execution of the death penalty and the general death penalty.Therefore,it belongs to a typical intermediate penalty.At present,our country life imprisonment of judicial application rate is low,among which there are misunderstandings about the legal meaning of life imprisonment between some judicial practitioners and theoretical researchers.In order to return to its ideal orientation,we should follow three sides to face the future system reconstructed:firstly,we should combine with the future direction of the reform of death penalty, prudent expansion scope of life imprisonment;secondly,in order to play the superiority of life in prison system, we recommend that the supplemented by means of trimming the provisions of the applicable major contributions;last but not least,we should follow the retrospective criminal law principle of 'observing old laws and new ones when with lighter punishment'strictly,according to the weight to determine the time of life imprisonment penalty emphatically.