The Birth and Development of Chinese Criminal Law Philosophy

From the period of the Republic of China, Chinese cri mi nal law research began to pay attention to the fundamental issues such as the va lues, basis, categories and method of criminal law. During the establishing and developing stages of new Chinese criminal law, the research on criminal law phil osophy made some progress on the detailed issues and methodology of criminal law science, which built the base for the development of new Chinese criminal law a nd criminal law philosophy. Since the reform-and-open period, Chinese criminal law research tries to rectify the prevailing normative way of thinking. It aims to explore the original and ultimate values of penalty and criminal law, and ta kes up value analysis on criminal law norms. While pondering upon such issues as the ground for state’s criminal law power and penalty power, it inspires the t ransformation of Chinese criminal law system in the new century.