The issue of not increasing the sentence on appeal

Graduation ** happy hehe! It's over the past, so why take it too seriously.

The principle of not increasing the sentence on appeal is one of the principles that the court of second instance must abide by when trying a case in which only the defendant has an appeal, and the defendant's punishment must not be increased for any reason. In cases of joint crimes, where only some of the defendants have appealed, the punishment of the defendant who appealed cannot be increased, nor can the punishment of the other defendants in the same case be increased.

The principle of not increasing the sentence on appeal is one of the principles that the court of second instance must abide by when trying a case in which only the defendant has an appeal, and the defendant's punishment must not be increased for any reason. Its implications include:

1. Appeal is the defendant's lawful right, and regardless of whether the grounds for appeal are appropriate, the original sentence cannot be increased in the second-instance judgment on the grounds that the defendant is not satisfied with the judgment or has a bad attitude.

2. In cases where only one of the defendants appeals, when the court of second instance confirms after trial that the judgment should be changed in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 189 of the Criminal Banquet Litigation Law, the defendant's punishment must not be increased even if the original sentence is unusually light.

3. In cases where only one of the defendants appeals, and the court of second instance confirms, after trial, that the judgment should be directly changed or remanded for a new trial in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 3 of Article 189 of the Criminal Procedure Law, the defendant's punishment should not be increased if the facts found in the original judgment are not changed after the facts are ascertained. At the same time, the court of second instance cannot remand a case that is merely a light sentence for retrial on the pretext that the facts are unclear and the evidence is insufficient, and order the court of first instance to increase the defendant's punishment.

Legal basisArticle 325 of the "Judicial Interpretation of Criminal Procedure" In cases where the defendant or his legally-designated person, defender, or close relatives raise an appeal, the defendant's punishment must not be increased, and the following provisions shall be enforced:

1) In cases tried in the same case, where only some of the defendants appeal, neither the appellant's punishment nor the punishment of the other defendants in the same case must be increased;

2) Where the facts in the original judgment are clear, the evidence is credible and sufficient, but only the charges found are improper, the charges may be changed, but the punishment must not be increased;

3) Where the original judgment imposed a combined punishment for multiple crimes on the defendant, the punishment for which enforcement was decided must not be increased, nor must the punishment for one of the multiple crimes be increased;

4) Where the original judgment announced a suspended sentence for the defendant, the suspended sentence must not be revoked or the probationary period of the suspended sentence must not be extended;

5) Where the original judgment did not announce an injunction, the announcement must not be added; Where the original judgment announces an injunction, the content must not be increased or the period must be extended;

6) Where the original judgment did not restrict the commutation of the defendant's death sentence with a suspended sentence, the commutation must not be restricted;

7) Where the facts in the original judgment are clear and the evidence is credible and sufficient, but the sentence given is unusually light and an additional punishment should have been applied but was not applied, the punishment must not be directly increased or the supplementary punishment applied, and it must not be remanded to the first-instance trial court for new trial on the grounds that the facts are unclear or the evidence is insufficient. Where it is necessary to change the judgment in accordance with law, a new trial shall be conducted in accordance with the trial supervision procedures after the second-instance judgment or ruling takes effect.

Cases in which the people's procuratorate raises a prosecutorial counter-appeal or dismisses or a private prosecutor appeals are not subject to the restrictions of the preceding paragraph.

Not increasing the sentence on appeal refers to the principle that when the second-instance people's court hears a case where only the defendant has appealed, the sentence must not be changed to be heavier than the original sentence, and there are no exceptions.

Legal basis: Article 226 of the Criminal Procedure Law: Second-instance people's courts hearing appeals from the defendant or his legally-designated ** person, defender, or close relatives must not increase the defendant's punishment. In cases where the second-instance people's court remands the case to the original people's court for new trial, the original people's court must not increase the defendant's punishment except where there are new facts of the crime and the people's procuratorate supplements the prosecution.

Where the people's procuratorate raises a prosecutorial counter-appeal or the private prosecutor submits an appeal, it is not subject to the restrictions of the preceding paragraph.

Supreme People's Court Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Enforcement of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China" Article 257:Second-instance people's courts hearing cases where the defendant or his legally-designated person, defender, or close relatives submit a lawsuit must not increase the defendant's punishment, and shall implement the following specific provisions:

1) In cases of joint crimes, where only some of the defendants have appealed, neither the punishment of the defendant who submitted the appeal nor the punishment of the other defendants in the same case can be increased;

2) Where the facts found in the original judgment are clear and the evidence is sufficient, but only the charges found are improper, the charges may be changed without increasing the punishment in the original judgment;

3) Where the defendant is punished for multiple crimes, the punishment for the decision to enforce must not be increased, and the punishment for one of the multiple crimes must not be increased while the punishment for the original judgment decision to enforce remains unchanged;

4) Where a defendant is sentenced to short-term detention or fixed-term imprisonment and a suspended sentence is announced, the suspended sentence announced in the original judgment must not be revoked or the probationary period of the suspended sentence must not be extended;

5) In cases where the facts are clear and the evidence is sufficient, but the punishment given is unusually light, or where an additional punishment should be applied but is not applied, the first-instance judgment must not be revoked, and the defendant's punishment must not be directly increased or an additional punishment applied, and the facts must not be unclear or the evidence is insufficient, as in the case of a new trial to the first-instance trial court. Where it is necessary to change the judgment in accordance with law, a new trial shall be conducted in accordance with the trial supervision procedures after the second-instance judgment or ruling takes effect.

Cases in which the people's procuratorate raises a prosecutorial counter-appeal or a private prosecutor raises an appeal are not subject to the restrictions of the preceding paragraph. However, in cases where the people's procuratorate raises a prosecutorial counter-appeal, and after trial by the second-instance trial court, the defendant's death sentence is changed to be immediately enforced, it shall be reported to the Supreme People's Court for review and approval.

Article 258 of the Supreme People's Court's Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Enforcement of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China: In cases of joint crimes, where the people's procuratorate only raises a prosecutorial counter-appeal against the judgment of some of the defendants, the second-instance trial court must not increase the punishment of the other first-instance trial defendants.

Not increasing the sentence on appeal means that when the defendant or his legally-designated person, defender, or close relatives appeal, the people's court must not increase the defendant's punishment. However, where the people's procuratorate raises a prosecutorial counter-appeal or the private prosecutor submits an appeal, the principle of not increasing the sentence on appeal does not apply.

Legal basis: Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 237:[2] Provisions: In cases where the second-instance people's court hears an appeal from the defendant or his legally-designated person, defender, or close relative, the punishment for the defendant's omission of probation must not be increased. Where the people's procuratorate raises a prosecutorial counter-appeal or the private prosecutor submits an appeal, the provisions of the preceding paragraph are not to be restricted.