How to understand the relationship between criminal reconciliation and incidental civil litigation mediation

In these public prosecution cases, if the criminal suspect and the defendant sincerely repent and obtain the victim's understanding and voluntary reconciliation through compensation for losses and apology, the two sides can reconcile. Article 99 of the new Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: "If the victim suffers material losses due to the defendant's criminal behavior, he has the right to file an incidental civil action in the course of criminal proceedings. If the victim dies or loses his capacity for civil conduct, the legal representative and close relatives of the victim have the right to file an incidental civil action. " Conciliation and mediation of the parties in incidental civil litigation have certain convergence in function, which are helpful to urge the parties to resolve contradictions and disputes and promote the settlement of cases; At the same time, in the case of compensation for losses, both of them help to ensure that the victims get corresponding damages. However, it should be recognized that there are differences between parties' reconciliation and incidental civil litigation mediation, which cannot be simply replaced. 1. In terms of nature and procedure, incidental civil action is a separate action brought by the victim against the material losses caused by criminal acts. Its essence is civil litigation, so it is the premise for other rights holders to file incidental civil litigation. Reconciliation between the parties is a private reconciliation between the victim and the defendant, not a form of litigation. Reconciliation can be reached at any stage of investigation, prosecution and trial. 2. From the way and scope, incidental civil litigation mainly involves the issue of compensation for losses, and the court can mediate and make a ruling based on material losses. However, the settlement between the parties is the product of the agreement between the two parties, and it is not simply to solve the problem of damages. Obviously, if the defendant voluntarily repents in good faith, obtains understanding through apology, and the victim voluntarily reconciles, and then reaches a settlement agreement, it does not involve the issue of damages at all. The settlement procedure of the parties does not limit the scope of compensation, and both parties can determine the amount of compensation through consultation. 3. From the effect point of view, the parties' reconciliation can be reached at any stage of investigation, prosecution and trial. For cases that reach a settlement agreement, the procuratorial organ can make a decision not to prosecute, and incidental civil actions are generally filed at the trial stage. In addition, the relationship between incidental civil compensation and sentencing is not clearly defined in the criminal procedure law, but it is clearly defined in the criminal procedure law in cases where a settlement agreement is reached. It can be seen that the influence of party reconciliation on case handling and sentencing has been confirmed by law and has a clear legal basis, which is also an important embodiment of the unique value of this procedure compared with incidental civil litigation. 4. From the perspective of system function, as two effective dispute settlement methods, the parties' reconciliation and mediation in incidental civil litigation have their own unique application scope and go hand in hand. However, there are different opinions on how to deal with cases in which the victim filed an incidental civil action at the trial stage and then reconciled with the defendant. In this regard, the Supreme People's Court pointed out in the "Answer to the Application of the New Criminal Procedure Law and Judicial Interpretation"; "If both parties reach a settlement agreement and perform it immediately, it shall be stated in the settlement agreement that the plaintiff in the incidental civil action withdraws the incidental civil action; Although the two parties are willing to settle, but the defendant cannot immediately fulfill all the compensation obligations, the people's court should not make a settlement agreement, but should make an incidental civil mediation. " (Author: Yancheng District People's Court, Luohe City, Henan Province)