Redemption

While the mutual-responsibility principle and the criminalization of job performance produced innocent convicts, the redemption policy and imperial amnesty created unlawful commoners. The punitive system was designed neither to restore the vicious parts of criminals to virtue nor to remove the wicked and evil from society. Various punishments, including some death penalties, could be redeemed via money, rank, or the labor of other people. Crimes, punishments, and rank could all be reduced to economic values and were therefore exchangeable. Furthermore, the emperor could use redeeming punishments as a resource to raise revenue during financial crises, calling for the purchase of rank or the direct donation of money or grain to redeem or mitigate punishments. Although no theories explicitly stated that the punitive system was formulated according to the calculation of economic gain, its practice benefited the government financially. Redemption functioned as a form of political economy.