After the revision of the Criminal Procedure Law in 2018,the application of the leniency system for admitting guilt and accepting punishment has entered a normalized phase.Existing discussions categorize the functions of this system into three dimensions:procedural,substantive,and restorative justice.Based on over two million verdict documents from six common types of cases adjudicated by China's grassroots courts from 2016 to 2021,this paper assesses the individual and systemic effects of the leniency system,for admitting guilt and accepting punishment.The empirical results show that first,in the procedural dimension,admitting guilt and accepting punishment significantly enhances the judicial efficiency of case handling,but there is still room for improvement in streamlining procedures and optimizing the allocation of judicial resources.Second,in the substantive dimension,defendants who admit guilt and accept punishment generally receive lenient treatment.The leniency system promotes a more lenient approach to sentencing for minor offenses without similarly affecting the sentencing of serious crimes,which aligns with the criminal policy of balancing leniency and severity.Finally,in the dimension of restorative justice,on the one hand,the proportion of victim compensation,victim forgiveness,and criminal reconciliation in cases of admitting guilt and accepting punishment is significantly higher than that in cases without such admissions.On the other hand,the overall situation of victim rights protection in some criminal cases has not significantly improved.The protection of victim rights should still be a focus in the further development of the leniency system for admitting guilt and accepting punishment.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
