The Practical Alienation and Institutional Return of the Principle of Appeal Resulting in No Sentence Increases —Taking the Yu Jinping Case as a Mirror

Abstract

The principle of appeal resulting in no sentence increases as a safeguard for the defendant’s right to appeal, maintaining the balance between prosecution and defense of the criminal procedure cornerstone, the legislative intent is to eliminate the defendant’s appeal concerns, to ensure that the channels of judicial remedies open. However, the practice of Yu Jinping traffic collision case of second instance to increase the sentence, deeply exposed the principle in the judicial application of the alienation of the dilemma. This paper analyzes the problems of the second trial of Yu Jinping case from three perspectives: legislative intent, procedural justice, and legal application, and puts forward the institutional safeguard programs such as establishing the substantive distinction of the purpose of the appeal, restricting the scope of factual determination of the sentence increase, and clarifying the rules of relief for the cases of guilty plea and punishment, which are aimed at promoting the return of the principle of appeal resulting in no sentence increases to the original source, preventing the recurrence of the similar cases, and safeguarding the defendant’s right to relief and the credibility of the judiciary.