Subjective emotions should be emphasized, and more room for leniency and understanding should be given to legitimate defense
At this year's two sessions, Li Dongsheng, a deputy to the National People's Congress, suggested: Consider the situation in which the defender is in and the reasonableness of the emotions caused by it, and list the reasonable emotions as the cause of the crime, so that the results of judicial decisions are more humane and ensure substantive fairness and justice; At the law enforcement level, improve the implementation rules for the application of the justifiable defense system, appropriately lower the threshold for some special circumstances, and relax the limits of tolerance under the law; At the level of judicial procedures, solidly advance judicial openness in legitimate defense cases, and give full play to the role of the judicial responsibility system. (CCTV News on March 4).
Li Dongsheng, deputy to the National People's Congress (Source: The Paper).
Generally speaking, the human formula of law is "law = emotion + reason + force"; It is precisely on the basis of this thinking that Li Dongsheng, a deputy to the National People's Congress, pointed out that in the adjudication of legitimate defense, in addition to following objective facts, it is also necessary to attach importance to subjective emotions and give more room for leniency and understanding in legitimate defense.
In the face of sudden unlawful infringement, people's emotional reactions are often direct and strong; Many acts of justifiable self-defense must also exceed the intensity of the violation, otherwise it is difficult to defend itself. This mood swing and stress response is essentially part of the survival instinct. If judicial adjudication does not take into account "human feelings" and makes too strict judgments, or simply handles cases based on the logic of "whoever is killed or injured is justified" and "consequentialism", then how can we support the defenders? How to defend fairness and justice?
Don't persuade others to be kind without suffering others", this sentence is used in legitimate defense, perhaps: if you have not experienced that kind of urgent environment, you should not easily judge right and wrong from the perspective of hindsight, and even force the defender to be absolutely rational and calm.
From a legal point of view, taking reasonable emotions into account is an important complement to the justifiable defense system. This means that in judicial practice, the determination of justifiable defense is more humane and concrete, and more attention is paid to the actual situation and psychological state of the defender. Only by balancing the law of reason and law can the case be assessed more comprehensively and fairly.
At the social level, the recognition of reasonable emotions is also in line with the simple justice of the people. When the law gives more room for self-protection, people's trust and respect for the law will also increase. The progress of the rule of law is not only to protect the rights and interests of individuals, but also to activate the positive energy of legitimate defense.
The law cannot yield to lawlessness, and fairness and justice should go both ways, so that the cost of crime can be higher, and the evil can be punished and the good can be promoted." Li Dongsheng, a deputy to the National People's Congress, suggested that it will help to truly activate the legal provisions on legitimate defense and reduce obstacles to its application. Although there are still many questions about the relaxation of the justifiable defense determination, such as how to define the reasonableness of emotion? How can we ensure that standards are not abused and that the relevant rules are improved? But every time it is activated and perfected, it is a lot of progress.
The recently released popular law film "Article 20" has brought the topic of legitimate defense back to the public eye. This may be an opportunity, hoping that more people will work hard to make "love in the law" and the human formula of the law more effective. (Zhengguan commentator Han Jing).
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