中国死刑民意:测量、解构与沟通

Public Opinions on Death Penalty in China:Measurement,Interpretation and Communication

死刑存废是一个以公众认同为正当性与合法性基础的公共政策选择问题,死刑政策决策与死刑制度设计必须认真对待民意。基于三万余个样本所做的实证分析显示,虽然多数受访者仍然支持保留死刑,报应和威慑是民众主张保留死刑的两大观念支柱,但是,中国主流民意对死刑的认同已经发生了明显松动,不再绝对认同死刑,绝大多数中国民众已经无条件地支持或有条件地接受废除死刑。一旦提供了恰当的死刑替代措施,近八成一般性地支持保留死刑的民众转而同意废除死刑。死刑民意具有复杂的生成机理,自我实现、传媒依赖、社会不公遭遇、安全感、法治意识和社会问题评价与死刑存废态度显著相关。应当运用沟通商谈模式对死刑民意进行理性引导,促进人的全面发展与社会的文明和谐,发挥政治精英的关键少数作用,科学设计死刑替代措施,普及死刑知识,借助大众传媒平台,与民众进行沟通商谈,为循序渐进地推进我国死刑改革奠定坚实的社会心理基础。

The preservation or the abolition of death penalty is an issue of public policy choice justified by public recognition.Policy decisions and system designs of death penalty should take public opinions seriously.Using data from more than 30000samples,this research finds that the concept of retribution and deterrence constitutes the most important conceptual foundation for death penalty,upon which the majority of Chinese people are in favor of preservation of death penalty.However,the mainstream view towards death penalty has significantly changed,which suggests that the majority of Chinese people are not absolute retentionists,but either unconditional or conditional abolitionists.When appropriate alternative measures to death penalty are posed,nearly eighty percent retentionists will turn into abolitionists.Public opinions of death penalty are influenced by a variety of factors including self-actualization,dependence of mass media,social unfair experiences,sense of security,legal awareness as well as evaluation of social problems.The discourse pattern is the most suitable pattern for China to lead public opinions towards a rational direction.According to this pattern,it is advisable to promote all-round development of human beings as well as civilization and harmony of the society,value the crucial role of political elites,establish appropriate alternative measures to death penalty and communicate with the public through mass media,so as to lay solid socio-psychological foundation for the gradual reform of death penalty in China.