The Confucianization of Law and the Lenient Punishments in China

Abstract

This article provides a clue on China's criminal policy on lenient punishments in history, including the confucianization of law and the alternatives to punishments in imperial era, the attack on Confucianism and the praise of the legalism in Mao era, and the shifts of criminal policy since reform and opening up, which may shed light on the complexity and prospect of lenient punishments in contemporary China