《刑法》第48条第1款之规范解读——以限制死刑适用为视角

An Interpretation of Limited Application of Death Penalty by Article 48(1) of Criminal law——In the perspective of limit application of death penalty

《刑法》第48条第1款规定了死刑适用的条件和死缓适用的情形,但"罪行极其严重"和"不是必须立即执行"均缺乏明确的标准,不能指导司法实践对分则罪名的正确运用。"罪行极其严重"是犯罪的客观危害和主观恶性均极其严重,内涵是"直接故意地实施了致命的犯罪并造成了致命结果的罪行"。对于罪行极其严重应当判处死刑的犯罪分子原则上应当执行死缓而非死刑立即执行,只有犯罪人人身危险性极大的时候才执行死刑立即执行。对于人身危险性极大的判断应要求具有反映人身危险的酌定从重情节和法定从重情节。

Article 48（1） of Criminal Law specifies the applicable conditions of death penalty and the reprieve. However,due to lack of clear definition,＂the most heinous crimes＂and＂the immediate execution…is not deemed necessary＂are not adequate in guiding the correct application of this specific provision in judicial practice. Therefore,the author holds that＂the most heinous crimes＂are crimes of both extremely serious objective hazards and extremely serious subjective culpability,whose connotation is＂deadly crimes directly,intentionally committed which cause fatal results＂. In principle,criminals who have committed extremely heinous crimes should be sentenced to death with a suspension of execution rather than immediate execution. The criminal shall be sentenced to immediate execution of death penalty only if his personal danger is great. The judgment of great personal danger should be made on the basis of discretionary and statutory facts that support severe punishment.