Judicial Pragmatism under Stability Pressure: The Functional Equivalence of Compensation and Forgiveness in Chinese Appellate Capital Sentencing

Judicial Pragmatism under Stability Pressure: The Functional Equivalence of Compensation and Forgiveness in Chinese Appellate Capital Sentencing | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Judicial Pragmatism under Stability Pressure: The Functional Equivalence of Compensation and Forgiveness in Chinese Appellate Capital Sentencing sifan quan, qi chen This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015583/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study investigates the pragmatic governance logic underlying capital sentencing in China, specifically focusing on the functional equivalence of financial compensation and victim forgiveness. Utilizing a comprehensive dataset of second-instance intentional homicide verdicts since 2011, we employ binary logistic and linear regression models with two-way fixed effects to analyze sentencing disparities. Our findings reveal a tiered sentencing logic: while the "compensation-plus-forgiveness" bundle yields the maximum leniency, financial compensation alone and victim forgiveness alone demonstrate statistically equivalent effects in mitigating death sentences. This "equivalence" challenges traditional restorative justice paradigms that prioritize emotional repair(King, 2008 ; Mok & Wong, 2013 ). Instead, we argue that under the dual pressures of stability maintenance (weiwen) and bureaucratic performance evaluation, Chinese judges pragmatically utilize these tools to hedge against the risk of petitioning (xinfang). Ultimately, capital sentencing in China has evolved into a sophisticated socio-legal exchange where judicial leniency is traded for the cessation of litigation, reflecting a shift from pure legalism to a governance-oriented judicial pragmatism. Social science/Criminology Social science/Politics and international relations Social science/Social policy Criminal Reconciliation Homicide Sentencing Victim Compensation Letter of Forgiveness Judicial Pragmatism Stability Maintenance Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 24 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 15 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 26 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 26 Mar, 2026 Editor invited by journal 13 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 10 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 10 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9015583","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":612932776,"identity":"6699bb6c-b20f-4f54-8e33-b7fa0410fcd0","order_by":0,"name":"sifan quan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Sun Yat-sen University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"sifan","middleName":"","lastName":"quan","suffix":""},{"id":612932777,"identity":"fdfacda5-cbd5-484b-8d2b-1033eeb1852b","order_by":1,"name":"qi chen","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABDElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCRBhYCPHD6QOPICJ8hDWkmYs2QDUkkC8FobDiRsOACmitPDPbj724E1BGuPma4cfAm2pS5w/I4Hxwds2BnlzXJbcOZZuOMfAhtnsdpoBUAvQuhsJzIZz2xgMdzZg12IgkWMmzWOQxmZ2OwGk5UDiBokENmneNgYgF5eW/G9ALYd5jGenf4A5jP03fi05bCAtEgbSOSBbmBMbbiSwMePTInEjzUxyjkGagcTtnIIDCQaHjTecedgsOeechOEGHFr4ZyQ/k3jzx6a+f3b65g8fKupk57cnH/zwpsxGHpctYICIBQMGxwYGxgYGWHwRoYWBwR6/0lEwCkbBKBiJAABOHl0bfMxCeQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Sun Yat-sen University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"qi","middleName":"","lastName":"chen","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-03 04:08:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015583/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015583/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105904016,"identity":"ceba0396-79c1-470d-b2c7-a7b9b8afac4a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-01 10:00:54","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":569360,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscriptanonymous2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9015583/v1_covered_c3098363-52a1-4709-8586-69e3f38517a3.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Judicial Pragmatism under Stability Pressure: The Functional Equivalence of Compensation and Forgiveness in Chinese Appellate Capital Sentencing","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Criminal Reconciliation, Homicide Sentencing, Victim Compensation, Letter of Forgiveness, Judicial Pragmatism, Stability Maintenance","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015583/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015583/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis study investigates the pragmatic governance logic underlying capital sentencing in China, specifically focusing on the functional equivalence of financial compensation and victim forgiveness. Utilizing a comprehensive dataset of second-instance intentional homicide verdicts since 2011, we employ binary logistic and linear regression models with two-way fixed effects to analyze sentencing disparities. Our findings reveal a tiered sentencing logic: while the \"compensation-plus-forgiveness\" bundle yields the maximum leniency, financial compensation alone and victim forgiveness alone demonstrate statistically equivalent effects in mitigating death sentences. This \"equivalence\" challenges traditional restorative justice paradigms that prioritize emotional repair(King, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e; Mok \u0026amp; Wong, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e). Instead, we argue that under the dual pressures of stability maintenance (weiwen) and bureaucratic performance evaluation, Chinese judges pragmatically utilize these tools to hedge against the risk of petitioning (xinfang). 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