论英国终身监禁刑罚演变与中国终身监禁制度改革——以假释为切入点

The Inspiration We Can Get from the Life Imprisonment System in England—focused on the parole system

本文从终身监禁犯人的假释为角度综观终身监禁制度系统自1965年死刑废除以来在英国的发展与变革。终身监禁刑自适用以来就一直被诟病。人道主义者认为剥夺终身监禁者获得自由的希望有违《欧洲人权公约》第3款。尽管2003《刑事司法法》进行对假释制度进行了改革,但改革之保守性还是让英国与轻刑化的欧洲渐行渐远。通过对英国终身监禁刑罚的解读,笔者认为人道主义思想推动轻刑化的进展作用有限,且中国的终身监禁制度不可盲目迎合轻刑化的趋势,并对中国终身监禁制度的未来做出展望。

This article reviews the life imprisonment system for lifesentenced prisoners in England since the abolition of the penalty in 1965.The practice of imposing a whole life tariff has also been called into question. It has been argued that sending a person to prison for the rest of his or her natural life without any hope of release could constitute inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Although the Criminal Justice Act 2003 put the possibility of whole life terms on a statutory footing, the practice of sentencing a person to prison for the rest of his or her life has come under attack in recent years,particularly from a human rights perspective. Also,it is getting harder to release a prisoner on license. The modest change in parole system seems going even farther away from the tendency of light punishment in Europe. In the end of this article,as I look to the future,I suppose we can learn from the England to improve our life-sentence system.