Content, essence and purpose of punishment in criminal law of several asian countries (on the example of China, Japan, Korea)
This paper is devoted to a comparative analysis of the existing criminal law norms of a number of Asian countries: China, Japan and North Korea. In the present article, the author examines the approaches to the goals, content and nature of punishment in the above-mentioned countries. These parameters, according to the author, form the basis of the criminal law policy of each of the countries under consideration and are currently one of the most significant indicators of the level of development of society. The author has analyzed in detail the criminal legislation of the studied countries in terms of enshrining in it the concepts ofpunishment, goals and the system of punishment. And also studied some studies of international human rights organizations in order to clarify the issue of respect for human rights and the fundamental principles on which the current foreign criminal legislation is based. Ultimately, noting some proximity of the criminal legislation of these states in terms of establishing a system ofpunishments, the author comes to the conclusion that the concept of criminal law policy depends on the entry of a particular state into a particular legal family. In addition, it is concluded that methods of combating crime are rather harsh in China’s criminal law policy, which presupposes more retribution for the crimes committed. In Japan, there are similarities with Western concepts, since the main tasks of punishment are still rehabilitation and correction. The North Korean criminal legislation, outwardly at first glance similar to the eastern countries studied, is characterized by a special harsh punishment. The difficulty of establishing the real picture in practice, due to the lack of statistical data, is stated.