Han Dynasty Prisons Violence and humanity coexist
On the basis of inheriting the criminal justice system before the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty gradually created a criminal justice path that integrated ritual law. With the change of the ruling philosophy of the Han Dynasty, its criminal justice system was gradually perfected in the process of exploration.
At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Huang Lao's thought was revered, and the concept of criminal justice was mainly embodied in "rule by inaction", but with the establishment of Confucian orthodoxy, the concept of criminal justice in the Han Dynasty gradually emphasized the "combination of ritual and law".
The criminal justice idea of "morality and punishment and auxiliary punishment, and the use of both ritual and law" is reflected in the punishment of criminals and the management of prison officials. As a violent means of maintaining rule, prisons play a deterrent and vigilant role in crime prevention, and achieve the educational effect expected by the idea of "moral master, criminal punishment, and auxiliary".
The prison and penal system of the Han Dynasty was very strict and complex, especially in the setting of ** and localities. During the Western Han Dynasty, there were many types of prisons, including the prison under the jurisdiction of Tingwei, the prison under the jurisdiction of Zongzheng, the prison under the jurisdiction of Shuiheng Duwei, the prison under the jurisdiction of Lieutenant (Zhi Jinwu), the prison under the jurisdiction of Da Honglu, the prison under the jurisdiction of Shaofu, the prison under the jurisdiction of Guangluxun, the prison under the jurisdiction of Zhan Shi, the prison under the jurisdiction of Taifu, and the prison under the jurisdiction of Jingzhao Yin Zuo Fengyi, etc., which respectively detained criminals of different identities.
Local prisons are divided into regional prisons under the control of the Kyoshi Institute and local county prisons. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the chief executive of the capital was in charge of the Beijing Division, but in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Jing Zhaoyin replaced the right internal history, and divided the administrative area of the Beijing Division into three, and set up the left Feng Yi and the right Fufeng.
Jing Zhaoyin, Zuo Fengyi, and Right Fufeng are collectively referred to as the "Three Auxiliaries of the Beijing", jointly in charge of the Beijing Division, and are in charge of all kinds of cases in the jurisdiction. Sanfu has the power to decide lawsuits and prisons, and the history says that "within the Beijing Division, Sanfu divides and rules, and its lawsuits and prisons are decided by themselves, not by the court captain." ”
The prison and penal system of the Han Dynasty, with its rigor and complexity, showed the legal awareness and legal level of the society at that time.
During the period of Emperor Guangwu, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, in order to reduce the pressure of ** prisons, the number of prisons was greatly reduced, and only five ** prisons were retained, namely Luoyang Prison, Luoyang Prison, Tingwei Prison, Beisi Prison and Yeting Prison.
Among them, Luoyang Prison and Tingwei Prison mainly dealt with important political cases, and imprisoned the generals and ministers and princes and nobles who were taken in by the emperor's edict; During the period of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, the eunuchs imprisoned a large number of party members in the Beisi Prison in order to be autocratic; The Yeting Prison mainly held concubines and palace maids who violated the criminal law in the imperial palace or were detained by the emperor's edict.
The local prisons followed the system of the Western Han Dynasty with slight changes.
During the Qin and Han dynasties, prison punishments for prisoners were mainly restrictions on their personal freedom. Unconvicted prisoners are referred to as "tie-in-ones" and convicted offenders are referred to as "tie-injas". In order to prevent the prisoners from escaping, they were required to wear uniform prison clothes and were given various torture instruments.
There are many types of torture instruments, among which wooden torture instruments are used to punish unconvicted criminals, and iron torture instruments are used to punish convicted criminals. In any case, the prisoner was confined to a claustrophobic room, with torture instruments attached to his hands and feet.
If prisoners are sentenced to hard labour, they are also required to wear iron instruments for work outside of prison, and are even humiliated by having their faces or hair shaved. This harsh form of punishment was the norm at the time.
The laws of the Han Dynasty stipulated that prisoners could not take down the torture instruments without permission, otherwise they would be punished with flogging. Even if you help the offender to remove the torture device, you will be sentenced to the same crime.
In addition, when a prisoner dies in the course of service, he is also required to wear a torture instrument for burial. The punishment of the Han Dynasty included not only imprisonment, but also servitude to the prisoners. For example, male prisoners were required to build walls and cut timber, while female prisoners were required to cook rice, mend clothes, cook, etc.
In the process of practicing the penal system and the prison system, the Han Dynasty's criminal prison thinking gradually changed from "rule by inaction" to "leniency and punishment reduction, and the use of both rituals and laws". At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, due to the withering of people's livelihood, in order to restore production and economic development, Huang Lao thought was adopted to govern the country, advocating the rule of inaction.
Influenced by Huang Lao's thoughts, the laws of the early Han Dynasty were simple and easy to enforce, and the punishment was lenient. With the rise of Confucianism, the idea of punishment and prison after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty gradually changed to "Spring and Autumn Prison Break".
Confucianism advocates the legal idea of "virtue is the main and criminal is secondary", and believes that the rule of virtue is the premise of criminal rule, and those in power must "be virtuous and simplify their punishment". Therefore, in enforcing the legal system, we must first focus on the education of etiquette, righteousness, and virtue.
Although the penal system and prison system of the Han Dynasty also had some problems in practice, the transformation of its penal thinking and the "compassion" for the inmates have provided us with some valuable experiences and lessons.
In the Han Dynasty prison thought,"Etiquette into the law"is its main manifestation. On the one hand, Confucianism emphasized the edifying role of punishment, and the purpose of the Han Dynasty prison was to warn people to prevent crime.
On the other hand, it is also advocated to use penal means to combat crime, which is"Mingde is prudent"。In the practice of criminal punishment, it was implemented in the Han Dynasty"Ritual and ritual are used together"The idea of prison is embodied in leniency.
This includes commutation and exemption of sentences for prisoners. For example, the emperor of the Han Dynasty would issue an amnesty for the whole world, but the amnesty did not cover criminals"Big deal"Prisoners of sin, such as treason.
In the case of counterinsurgency, in order to win the hearts and minds of the people in the rebellious area, it is common to pardon the treason there in advance. In addition, specific groups of people are pardoned in order to win over dissidents. Commutation refers to the reduction of the sentence of a convict or the reduction of his or her punishment level, for example, the death penalty may be commuted to a border or relocated to a border county.
Redemption is the process of making the offender pay a certain amount of money or goods according to the regulations, so as to exempt him from the punishment he should receive. The offender can also pay money to redeem the crime. The pardon system was an important system of mercy for prisoners in the Han Dynasty, which reflected the benevolent government of the ruler and played an important role in maintaining feudal rule.
At first, the pardon system was accidental, but it gradually evolved into the formal political system of the country. During the Han and Han dynasties, this system was widely used and played a positive role in maintaining the stability of the Han Dynasty's political power and people's lives.
The penal practice of the Han Dynasty was people-oriented and humane in design. For example, prisoners are allowed to return home to their families on dog days and winter months every year, and prisoners must return to prison at agreed times; Pregnant female prisoners must wait until they have given birth before they can be executed; The government is obliged to provide medical care to prisoners in prison or in hard labor; If a convict dies during hard labor and has no relatives, it is also the duty of the government to bury them.
In addition, for the elderly, young children and people with special status, the Han Dynasty also stipulated that the punishment instruments were exempted. Moreover, the laws of the Han Dynasty also allowed certain pardons for those who violated the law but conformed to Confucian moral standards.
In order to achieve the judicial ideal of the Han Dynasty as "Mingde and prudent punishment", the Han Dynasty adopted two ways to ensure judicial fairness: one was to "record prisoners" and the other was to supervise prison officials.
Prisoner recording refers to regular or irregular inspections of prisons by the supreme monarch of the state and higher-level officials with supervisory duties to ensure the implementation of the law and the fairness and justice of the judiciary.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the system of assassination history, so that the recording of prisoners was based on evidence. The duty of the assassin is to inspect the prefectures and counties, investigate the provincial prisons, depose the people, and judge the unjust prisons. The assassin has the power to supervise the state prisons and has the responsibility to pacify unjust prisons.
The purpose of the Assassin Tour's tour of the states and counties was to maintain the stability of the regime. There are two ways to record prisoners, one is regular, and the spring and autumn of each year are regular prisoners; The other is irregular, often caused by a natural disaster or an abnormal phenomenon in a certain place, and the ruler regards this as a warning from heaven to himself, so he will send an envoy to inspect the place where the disaster occurred to settle the grievances.
Sometimes, the emperor and empress would also personally visit the prison province to record prisoners as a demonstration of benevolence. However, the Emperor's Prisoner of Exile only occurred in the vicinity of Jingshi, and it was not universal.
In order to ensure judicial fairness, in ancient China, suspects were usually interrogated when trying cases. However, some ** may resort to torture to extract confessions in order to obtain confessions as soon as possible.
In order to prevent the emergence of unjust, false and wrongful convictions, the rulers of the Han Dynasty implemented a system of anti-sitting. If it is found that an innocent person is imprisoned because of the torture of **, then this ** will be punished for the innocent person's crime.
The aim is to limit the abuse of torture by prison officials and to ensure justice.
Due to the imperfection of the judicial system in the Han Dynasty, the punishment for torture was mostly superficial. In addition to punishing unjust, false and wrongful cases caused by torture, the Han Dynasty also strictly restricted the behavior of prison officials, as recorded in the "Later Han Shu Liang Tong Lie Biography", some **pretend** to solicit bribes from the rich.
This situation did exist during the Han and Han dynasties. In order to prevent prisoners from dying in prison due to torture or cold or disease, the Han Dynasty established an evaluation system for prison officials, and the prison officials must report the details of death row prisoners to *** every year, and they will evaluate the behavior of the prison officials, and finally report to the emperor.
The evaluation system adopted by Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty curbed the abuse of torture by prison officials to a certain extent. Therefore, in the Han Dynasty, the bribery and indiscriminate torture of prison officials undermined judicial fairness, increased the number of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, and in the long run, intensified social contradictions and was not conducive to governance.
Therefore, the Han Dynasty paid attention to the fairness and justice of prisons.
Prisons play a pivotal role in the state apparatus, and the Han Dynasty has perfected the setting of prisons. Prisons are not only a symbol of the supremacy of imperial power, but also an important tool for rulers to maintain their rule.
Rulers resort to prisons to suppress revolts and purge dissidents. In the Han Dynasty, the concept of "Mingde and prudent punishment, and the convergence of ritual and law" was implemented in the Han Dynasty, which demonstrated the humanitarian spirit of Confucianism through preferential treatment of prisoners, and was deeply influenced by Confucian classics and righteousness, which alleviated the cruelty of punishment to a certain extent.
On the other hand, the Han Dynasty carried out strict supervision of prisons at different levels of ** and local levels, and strictly supervised the administration of prisons, thus ensuring judicial fairness.
In addition, the specific measures of "entering the law with propriety" have played a role in educating the people, not only playing a deterrent effect, but also extending Confucian morality and ethics to a wider range of classes and groups.
References: "Historical Records", "Book of Han", "Book of the Later Han", "New Book", "Book of Rites and Justice".