酌定减轻处罚制度司法适用的实证分析

An Empirical Analysis of the Judicial Application of Discretionary Punishment Mitigation System

《刑法》第63条第2款规定的酌定减轻处罚制度,其价值在于激活法官的自由裁量权,实现个案量刑公正。但实证研究发现,该制度的实践运用远未达到立法创设的初衷。一方面,该制度的适用率极低,且适用的案件类型相当有限;另一方面,法官对适用标准理解不一,造成同案不同判、量刑不均衡的情形大量存在。制度实践不理想的根源在于立法对适用实体的规定含糊其辞,法官行使自由裁量权缺乏明确的标准规则。在此背景下,有必要在实践基础上进行理论反思,明确制度适用的实体标准。为激活制度的适用,应从立法和司法两个层面寻找出路,即在立法层面将部分酌定量刑情节法定化以及细化减轻处罚的具体幅度;在司法层面进一步加强量刑说理,颁布指导案例,以规范、引导法官的自由裁量权。

The discretionary punishment mitigation system stipulated in paragraph 2 of article 63 in the Criminal law lies in activating the discretion of judges and realizing the impartiality of discreting individual cases.But empirical studies found that its practical application is far from the original intention of legislation.On the one hand,the application rate is very low and the applicable types of cases are quite limited.On the other hand,judges have different understandings of the applicable standards,resulting in a large number of cases with different sentences and imbalanced sentencing.The root of the unsatisfactory practice lies in the ambiguity of the provision of applicable entities in the legislation and the lack of clear standards for judges to exercise their discretion.Against this context,it is necessary to conduct theoretical reflection on the basis of practice and clarify the entity standards applicable to the provision.In order to activate its application,the solution from legislation and judicature should be sought after.At the legislative level,the legalization of sentencing circumstances should be partly determined and the specific scope of the mitigated punishment be refined;at the judicial level,the sentencing reasoning should be further strengthened and guiding cases should be promulgated to standardize and guide judges'discretion.