Is it possible to settle a public prosecution case out of court?

Out-of-court settlement refers to the settlement reached by the parties themselves, which embodies the principle of party autonomy. However, if the two parties settle out of court and fail to pass the court, the settlement agreement reached by the two parties is not legally binding. If one party fails to perform, the other party still has to deal with it through court proceedings. As early as in the process of judicial organs around the country actively exploring the reconciliation of the parties in public prosecution cases, there was a view that the reconciliation of the parties was suspected of "spending money to buy punishment." In order to avoid the harmful consequences caused by the abuse of this procedure, the newly revised criminal procedure law has made necessary provisions on this procedure from the aspects of social harm of crime and personal danger of criminals. 1, which is applicable to cases caused by civil disputes. Anyone suspected of violating the order of socialist market economy as stipulated in Chapter IV of the Specific Provisions of the Criminal Law and infringing property as stipulated in Chapter V can be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years. Because this kind of crime mainly infringes on the personal legal interests rather than the national or social public interests, it is not only helpful to resolve the contradictions and disputes between the parties, but also conducive to promoting social harmony, without adversely affecting the operation of the national penalty power.

2. Applicable to cases of negligent crimes that may be sentenced to seven years' imprisonment except for dereliction of duty. Because the subjective danger of the perpetrator of this kind of negligent crime is not deep, compared with intentional crime, there are fewer contradictions and confrontations between the parties, and the application of this procedure is easy to be recognized by the society. In judicial practice, a large number of traffic accident cases that meet this condition have achieved good results. However, cases of negligence and dereliction of duty involve the exercise of public power, and no matter how serious the crime is, the reconciliation procedure is not applicable. 3. It does not apply to cases where the defendant intentionally commits a crime within five years. Because of the great personal danger of such defendants, if the parties' reconciliation procedure is applied to them, it will not be conducive to the special preventive function of punishment and the social effect will not be good.

out-of-court settlement

1, pre-trial mediation

2. Invited mediators to mediate

3. Lawyer's settlement

Legal basis:

Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 288 In the following cases of public prosecution, if the criminal suspect and the defendant sincerely repent and obtain the understanding of the victim by means of compensation for losses, apology, etc., and the victim voluntarily reconciles, both parties may reconcile:

(a) due to a civil dispute, suspected of criminal cases stipulated in Chapters IV and V of the Specific Provisions of the Criminal Law, and may be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years;

(two) criminal cases of negligence other than dereliction of duty that may be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than seven years.

If a criminal suspect or defendant intentionally commits a crime within five years, the procedures specified in this chapter shall not apply.