Contents of the Court's Penalty Enforcement Activities

This shows that the essence of applying punishment reflects the way of handling criminal cases in practice, including many different activities. Through that, it also shows the discretion in applying punishment. When studying the case file and the specific crime, the Court can decide to exempt criminal liability, exempt punishment or apply the main punishment or additional punishment to the defendant.

1.2. Contents of the Court's penalty application activities

1.2.1. The role of the Court's penalty enforcement activities

The application of punishment is an activity, reflected in the Court's compliance with the provisions of the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code to pronounce a punishment that ensures fairness, has grounds and is in accordance with the law for convicted criminals. Thereby, it actively contributes to the protection of human rights and the fight against crime. The application of punishment has the following important meanings:

* Applying the right punishment is the legal basis to achieve the purpose of punishment.

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According to the Vietnamese Dictionary of the Institute of Linguistics, purpose is "the expectation in human consciousness of the result to be achieved through one's activities... As a direct motive, the purpose guides and regulates all actions" [74, p.648]. Thus, it can be understood that the purpose of punishment is the result that the State sets and wishes to achieve when applying punishment to convicted criminals. Although the purpose of punishment is a decisive factor in the application of punishment, whether the purpose of punishment is achieved or not depends on how the punishment is applied. Any case of applying the wrong punishment, applying a punishment that is too heavy or too light will not achieve the purpose of punishment in practice and will also give rise to negative reactions, opposition, and distrust in the fairness of the law, of law enforcement agencies... from the convicted person and public opinion.

Article 27 of the 1999 Penal Code stipulates the purpose of punishment as follows: Punishment is not only to punish criminals but also to educate them to become useful people for society, conscious of obeying the law and the rules of social life.

Punishment also aims to educate others to respect the law, fight against and prevent crime [42].

Currently, in criminal justice science, there are many different views on the purposes of punishment: The traditional view considers the most important purposes of punishment to be specific prevention and general prevention; The view leaning towards criminal repression considers the purpose of punishment to be only punishment; The view leaning towards morality considers the purpose of punishment to be only education and reform; The flexible view considers the purposes of punishment to be both punishment, reform and education [3, p.327].

In general, all these views acknowledge that one or both of the two main purposes of punishment are to punish and educate the offender. The application of punishment must ensure that the imposed punishment achieves both of these purposes. Punishment and education are two closely related aspects when applying punishment, the Court must not emphasize or underestimate one aspect. If the educational purpose is underestimated, it will lead to the application of too severe a punishment, and the offender will have the mentality that the imposed punishment is not satisfactory to them. Punishment in this case will only make the convicted person hate the law and law enforcement agencies, giving rise to a mentality of opposition, from which he will not try to actively work and reform to become a useful citizen for society. On the contrary, if the purpose of punishment is underestimated, it will lead to the application of a punishment that is too light, not commensurate with the nature and level of danger to society of the crime. The consequence is that the criminals themselves will disregard the law, and the masses will lose confidence in the State's laws.

Therefore, deciding on a fair punishment, commensurate with the nature, level of danger to society of the crime and the personality of the offender is a mandatory condition to achieve the punitive and educational purposes of punishment. In the author's opinion, if both the goals of punishment and education are achieved, the punishment will of course also have an educational and preventive effect.

General prevention and contributing to forming awareness of law compliance, active and proactive participation in the fight against crime of other members of society.

* Applying the right punishment is an important basis for improving the effectiveness of punishment.

In addition to the purpose, the effectiveness of the punishment is also an important factor in the application of punishment. According to the Vietnamese Dictionary of the Institute of Linguistics, effectiveness "is the desired result, the thing that produces the result that people expect and aim for" [74, p.440]. If the purpose of the punishment is the expected result set by the State and desired to achieve when applying the punishment to the convicted criminal, then the effectiveness of the punishment is the result that needs to be achieved. However, because the purposes of the punishment in reality are always achieved to a certain extent, the level of achievement of the purpose of the punishment is the result that reflects the effectiveness of the punishment. The higher the level of achievement of the purpose of the punishment, the higher the effectiveness of the punishment and vice versa, the lower the level of achievement of the purpose of the punishment, the lower the effectiveness of the punishment.

Talking about the effectiveness of punishment means talking about the positive effect of punishment on the fight against crime. When punishment is applied to convicted criminals and executed in practice, whether the effectiveness of the punishment is guaranteed and enhanced or not depends on many factors such as: Criminal law-making activities; penalty application activities; organization of criminal judgment execution; propaganda and education work to form and enhance citizens' legal awareness. Of all these factors, the application of punishment is the most decisive and important factor in ensuring and enhancing the effectiveness of punishment. Building a complete criminal law system is only meaningful when the punishment is applied correctly in practice. On the other hand, the execution of punishment only has the best effect if the Court applies the punishment correctly. Other social factors that ensure the effectiveness of punishment, such as propaganda and education of citizens' legal awareness so that they voluntarily comply with the punishment, cannot be effective when the punishment is applied incorrectly. If the punishment

If the sentence is not commensurate with the nature and level of danger to society of the crime, it will make the convicted person not see the correctness of the sentence and therefore not actively work to reform to become a useful person for society; as well as cause bad public opinion among the masses, affect the masses' trust in the law, not encourage the masses to actively participate in the fight against crime and thus the effectiveness of the punishment will certainly not be achieved.

* Applying the right punishment is a condition to ensure the feasibility of the punishment system.

In practice, criminal cases always have different natures and levels of danger to society. Therefore, to ensure the purpose of punishing and educating criminals, the State must establish specific types of punishments with different levels of severity, appropriate to the nature and level of danger to society of each type of crime as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 8 of the 1999 Penal Code. The punishments are arranged in a certain order, forming a unified whole called the system of punishments but still ensuring the basis and conditions for application of each type of punishment in specific cases.

The system of punishment is a synthesis of the most severe criminal coercive measures of the State prescribed in the criminal law, based on the severity of each type, arranged into a specific list in a certain order from light to heavy or vice versa and only decided by the Court in the verdict of conviction against the defendant who committed the crime. The purpose and effectiveness of punishment, although depending on the organization of the execution of punishment in practice, depends first of all on the selection of the type of punishment in the system of punishment with the specific level of punishment of the Trial Council.

In the penal system, based on the ability and impact value of each type of penalty on the crime, penalties are divided into main penalties and additional penalties. The main penalty is determined to be the type of penalty that is commensurate with the nature and level of danger to society of the crime and when applied has the ability to

achieve the purpose of punishment. Additional punishment is defined as a type of punishment that supports the main punishment in order to achieve the purpose of punishment at the highest level [59, p.180]. Therefore, Clause 3, Article 28 of the 1999 Penal Code stipulates: "For each crime, the offender shall only be subject to one main punishment and may be subject to one or more additional punishments" [42]. Each type of punishment in the penalty system has different conditions of application and severity levels sufficient to punish, educate the offender and prevent in general. At the same time, most of the criminal laws in the Crimes Section of the 1999 Penal Code stipulate a number of main punishments (from two or more main punishments) and additional punishments corresponding to each specific crime for the Court to choose to apply to the offender. These are the legal bases for the Trial Council to apply the penalty to each specific case, based on the content and conditions of application of each type of penalty, and on the limits of sanctions that the law on crimes allows to apply, to apply the penalty to the offender correctly.

Each type of punishment always contains within it the connection between punishment and education. Punishment only has meaning and demonstrates its true value when the application of punishment chooses the right type and level of punishment for the offender. Therefore, only when the Trial Council applies punishment, combines punishment with education for the offender, and promotes the effect of punishment in the fight against crime, can it ensure the feasibility of the punishment system in Vietnamese criminal law, making each punishment in particular and the punishment system in general truly an effective tool in the fight against crime.

* Applying the right punishment contributes to ensuring the rule of law in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

In general understanding, legality is the strict and accurate compliance with the law by state agencies, officials, civil servants; by organizations, members; and by citizens in all activities.

In order for the law to be strictly followed in all activities of social life, the subjects must have a sense of respect for the law.

In most cases, if the subject has a sense of disregard for the law, it is very easy to commit illegal acts, including acts that are dangerous to society and are considered crimes. When the law is violated at any level, it means that the law is not guaranteed. Therefore, criminal law plays an important role in ensuring strict implementation of the law throughout the country.

To fulfill that role, applying the right punishment is one of the most important requirements. Applying the wrong punishment, not demonstrating the strictness of the law, will cause the law, the rules of socialist life, and the legitimate rights and interests of people to be violated. On the contrary, applying the right punishment not only ensures the punitive purpose of the punishment but also educates the offender to have the consciousness to respect, voluntarily comply with the law and the rules of socialist life to completely abandon the path of crime. In addition, applying the right punishment will make other members of society firmly believe in the law, considering the law as a solid foundation for all actions. For other members who still lack faith in the law, seeing the strictness of the law, they will abandon the intention to commit crimes and voluntarily comply with the law strictly. Thus, applying the right punishment will have an impact on the awareness of each individual in society so that they are afraid of punishment and do not dare to commit crimes, and more importantly, they are aware of the strictness of the law so that they voluntarily comply with the law. From there, they will also determine for themselves the proactive awareness and responsibility to actively participate in the fight against and combat crime, contributing to ensuring the rule of law in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

1.2.2. Principles of applying penalties of the People's Court

The term "principle" comes from the Latin word Principium (principle) and means the first thought, the guiding thought in science, phenomenon or process. That principle is also applied to the study of law in general and its institutions in particular.

To apply legal, fair and reasonable punishment to people

When applying criminal sanctions, whether they commit one crime or many crimes, the Court must follow certain principles. These principles are called the principles of applying penalties. These are the guiding ideas and guidelines for the Court's activities when selecting and deciding on the type and level of penalties for each defendant in each specific case, which are the premise and conditions for educating and reforming convicted persons well, contributing to individual and general prevention. The principles of applying penalties are one of the important contents of applying penalties. Research and clarification of the principles of applying penalties create favorable premises for applying penalties in accordance with the law. If the principles of applying penalties are not correctly understood, it will lead to incorrect application of criminal law norms, leading to incorrect application of penalties.

In Vietnamese criminal law, the principles of applying penalties are not officially recorded in the Criminal Code but are expressed through the content of criminal law norms. In order to have a basis for proposing principles of applying penalties, it is necessary to rely on certain standards. Those standards are: First , they must be the first guiding ideas; second , they must be expressed directly or indirectly in criminal law; third , they must be the guiding ideas that orient the activities of the Court in the field of deciding penalties; fourth, those ideas must be consistent with criminal policy in each stage of development of the State. Based on the above standards, the application of penalties must be based on the following principles:

- Principles of socialist legality;

- Principles of socialist humanity;

- Principle of individualization of punishment;

- Principle of fairness (fairness).

* Socialist legal principles in applying punishment

The principle of socialist legality is an important and fundamental principle in the process of building socialism in Vietnam. To talk about legality is to talk about

to the thorough compliance with the law by the State, social organizations and citizens. Only by thoroughly complying with the principle of socialist legality when deciding on punishment can other principles of criminal law be guaranteed to be implemented.

The principle of socialist legality is considered the basic principle that runs through all activities of building and applying criminal law. Among the principles of applying punishment, the principle of socialist legality plays a leading role, violating the principle of legality also means violating other principles at different levels. The basic overarching idea of the principle of socialist legality when applying punishment is expressed in the fact that when applying punishment to the convicted person, the Court must strictly comply with the provisions of criminal law.

The content of this principle, first of all, is expressed in the fact that when applying penalties, the Court must comply with the order and conditions for applying specific types of penalties and can only impose penalties with the level of penalties prescribed in the Penal Code.

The second content of the socialist legal principle in applying penalties is that the Court must comply with the provisions of the Penal Code on the content, scope, conditions for applying types of penalties, and on the synthesis of penalties. Accordingly, when deciding on penalties, the Court must fully cite the legal bases in the judgment, meaning that the Court must specify the provisions applied in the decision part of the judgment. The Court must strictly comply when determining and selecting the type of penalty and the specific penalty level to be applied to the offender. In addition, the Court must also strictly comply with the provisions on aggravating and mitigating circumstances of criminal responsibility, etc., because these are provisions that serve as a legal basis for the Court to accurately apply penalties to the offender.

The third content of the principle of socialist legality is the rationality of applying punishment. Rationality is shown in that among the different solutions allowed by law, the Court must choose the most optimal solution, which is both appropriate to the nature and level of danger to society of the criminal acts, and

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