死刑的适用原则与存废之争

死刑是以剥夺犯罪人生命为内容的最为严厉的刑罚，应遵循公正、功利与人道三大原则。死刑是起源最早的刑种，在几千年人类刑罚史上一直占据着刑罚体系的主导地位。死刑制度走向历来是一个极为敏感的问题。因此，如何评价死刑，保留或是废除，限制或是扩张，不仅是一个法律问题，也是一个非常重要的社会、政治问题。我国作为保留死刑的国家，限制与减少死刑已受到立法和司法的高度重视。

Principles for Death Penalty and Dispute over Reserving or Abolishing the Punishment

Among all kinds of punishment,the penalty of death is the sternest one that is used to deprive the offender of life.As a kind of punishment that originated earliest,the penalty of death has occupied the leading position in the punishment history for thousands of years,and the orientation of death penalty has always been the most sensitive question.Therefore,it is both a legal and an important social and political question how to appraise the death penalty,whether to reserve or do away with it,and whether to restrict or expand it.As China is a country that is still adopting the death penalty system,much attention has been devoted to the restriction and reduction of the death penalty by the legislative and judicial authorities.