On the Improvement of Sentencing Negotiation Procedures in the Leniency System for Admitting Guilt and Accepting Punishment——Enlightenment from the Criminal Justice Spirit of the Soviet-Zone

The sentencing negotiation procedure under China's leniency system for admission of guilt and acceptance of punishment (hereinafter referred to as plea leniency system) with its uniquely Chinese characteristics of "negotiation."has been highly anticipated by both academia and judicial practitioners.However, in current judicial practice, this procedure still faces significant challenges, including procedural ambiguity that undermines genuine negotiation and the prosecution's absolute dominance, which exacerbates the imbalance between the prosecution and the defense.For the sentencing negotiation procedure to establish a firm foundation amid these difficulties, it must strike a balance between key aspects in its development, ensuring that it fulfills legislative objectives while preserving its distinctive features.From a developmental perspective, the judicial spirit of the people's justice system in the Soviet-Zone, the criminal policy of combining punishment with leniency, and the practical needs of sentencing negotiation align perfectly.Drawing inspiration from the legal traditions of the Soviet-Zone, the introduction of a public hearing mechanism and a substantive dialogue approach could help mitigate the imbalance between prosecution and defense and address the issue of formalized negotiations in the plea leniency system.