关键词: 死刑, 死缓, 罪行极其严重, 人身危险性, 主观恶性

Abstract:

Article 48 (1) of Criminal Law specifies the applicable conditions of death penalty and the reprieve. However，due to
lack of clear definition，“the most heinous crimes”and“the immediate execution…is not deemed necessary”are not adequate in
guiding the correct application of this specific provision in judicial practice. Therefore，the author holds that“the most heinous
crimes”are crimes of both extremely serious objective hazards and extremely serious subjective culpability，whose connotation
is“deadly crimes directly，intentionally committed which cause fatal results”. In principle，criminals who have committed
extremely heinous crimes should be sentenced to death with a suspension of execution rather than immediate execution. The
criminal shall be sentenced to immediate execution of death penalty only if his personal danger is great. The judgment of great
personal danger should be made on the basis of discretionary and statutory facts that support severe punishment.

Key words: death penalty, reprieve, the most heinous crimes, personal danger, subjective culpability