A Review and Improvement of the Collateral Consequences of Conviction System

Abstract

The collateral consequences of conviction refer to the restrictions on rights, qualifications, and obligations imposed on individuals subjected to criminal liability, as well as their relatives, through laws, administrative regulations, and industry rules. These consequences can be categorized based on their content and duration. The current system of collateral consequences exhibits characteristics such as broad existence, inevitable application, arbitrary imposition, and severe outcomes. These issues excessively infringe on citizens' fundamental rights, severely hinder the reintegration of ex-offenders into society, and lead to significant negative impacts. Measures should be promptly taken to improve this system. First, the typology of factual types and legal consequences should be strengthened, and the connection between factual types and legal consequences should be reinforced to optimize the logical framework of the collateral consequences of conviction. The establishment of a corresponding review mechanism for the collateral consequences of conviction and a system for the sealing of criminal records should follow this. Second, beneficial practices of foreign judicial review should be drawn upon, combining them with local systems to establish norms for the collateral consequences of conviction. Finally, reference can be made to the criminal record sealing systems in other countries to build a criminal record sealing system with Chinese characteristics.