Will a letter of understanding also lead to a prison sentence?

Not necessarily a sentence. Generally speaking, if the criminal suspect or defendant sincerely regrets his or her crime and obtains the victim's understanding by compensating the victim's losses, making an apology, etc., and if the victim voluntarily reconciles, the two parties can reconcile. After reconciliation, if the crime is minor, no penalty may be imposed. It should be determined on a case-by-case basis.

What role does criminal understanding play in criminal proceedings

1. Criminal understanding is one of the discretionary sentencing circumstances stipulated in the criminal law. In the absence of statutory mitigating circumstances, criminal understanding will It has become an important means of defense for defenders in criminal proceedings. Today, with the increasing development of modern criminal proceedings, criminal understanding has received more and more attention.

2. A criminal understanding letter generally refers to a written document of a legal nature that is reached between the victim of a criminal case and the criminal suspect or his family on the outcome of the criminal case, and is issued by the victim. . A letter of understanding is generally issued after the procuratorate has completed interrogation in court, and it has the effect of lenient or reduced punishment in criminal law.

3. The criminal understanding letter itself has no fixed format. The purpose of issuing the letter of understanding is to reduce the punishment of the criminal suspect. Some criminal suspects can be released on bail pending trial, so the letter of understanding is given by the victim to the criminal. For family members, lawyers generally deal with the criminal suspect in detail, but if the circumstances are minor and there is no need to hire a lawyer, you can refer to the format of this letter of understanding.

4. If the premise of the letter of understanding is that harm has been caused to the victim, it should state that a compensation agreement has been reached and the compensation has actually been completed. If there is no harm to the victim, there is no need to express it, but the key point of the letter of understanding is It is necessary to express clearly that the victim has understood, and at the same time, the victim requests to be exempted from the criminal responsibility of the defendant (criminal suspect).

Legal basis:

Article 290 of the "People's Republic of China" and the country's "Criminal Procedure Law" stipulate that for cases in which the validity of the settlement agreement has not been determined, the public security The agency may make suggestions for leniency to the People's Procuratorate. The People's Procuratorate may make recommendations to the People's Court for lenient punishment; if the crime is minor and does not require a penalty, it may decide not to prosecute. The people's court may impose a lighter punishment on the defendant in accordance with the law.

Even if the criminal offender obtains a letter of understanding from the victim, the people's court may still impose a penalty. If the criminal suspect reaches a compensation agreement with the victim and obtains the victim's understanding, the judicial authority may give a lighter, reduced or exempted criminal penalty. That is to say, the punishment can be given lightly, but the punishment cannot be exempted.