What are the preparations for lawyers to witness confession and punishment?
Lawyers need to be prepared to understand the connotation of the system when witnessing confession and punishment.
First of all, lawyers should accurately grasp the connotation of the lenient system of confession and punishment.
Many people have had such a misunderstanding that pleading guilty and admitting punishment is nothing more than voluntary confession, which is regarded as a legal lenient circumstance and the defendant is given a lighter punishment. After systematically studying the background, system design, current regulations and authoritative interpretation, I gradually understand the particularity of this system. As a system, the Criminal Procedure Law is written into law, which has profound meaning and reasons, and will inevitably have a great impact on the existing criminal procedure system and practical work. According to "Guiding Opinions on Applying the System of Pleading and Punishing with Leniency", all cases can be applied to pleading guilty and punishing with leniency, but not all cases can be lenient. For specific criminal cases, serious criminal cases and major sensitive cases that the society is generally concerned about, even if you plead guilty, you can't be lenient. You should still embody the basic principle of combining leniency with severity and punishing crimes.
The lenient system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment, although it also requires "pleading guilty" first, is very different from the criminal suspect and defendant who only voluntarily plead guilty in connotation, significance and procedure. Only when lawyers really learn and understand this system can they apply it accurately and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the parties.
Second, lawyers should attach great importance to the defendant's voluntary confession and punishment.
(a) lawyers should make it clear that the defendant or criminal suspect must choose to plead guilty and admit punishment, and don't let the opinions of others outside the case affect the defendant or criminal suspect too much.
The choice and decision of confession and punishment lies with the defendant or criminal suspect, and no one else can decide for him. In the course of work, some close relatives of defendants or criminal suspects will impose their wishes on them and ask them to "plead guilty and admit punishment" or "plead not guilty and admit punishment" through lawyers. There are also some case-handling organs that, due to various factors, will require the defendant or criminal suspect to plead guilty and admit punishment, and some even require lawyers to mobilize the defendant or criminal suspect. In this regard, lawyers should clearly explain to the defendant or criminal suspect that they must abide by the personal wishes of the defendant or criminal suspect and are not influenced by others.
(2) Lawyers should clearly define the scope and content of "confession" and "punishment" of criminal suspects and defendants, and should treat them with caution if they disagree with the defendants and criminal suspects.
Regarding the scope of confession and punishment, there has always been such a controversy, that is, whether the defendant and the criminal suspect can "plead guilty but disagree with the facts" or "admit things but disagree with the charges". In the past, there was a judicial interpretation that the reasonable excuse of the defendant or criminal suspect did not affect the determination of the circumstances of surrender and confession. However, in the system of confession and punishment, because the system finally gives the defendant benefits in procedure and sentencing, the legislative intention should be that the defendant or criminal suspect should be right. From the provisions of Articles 6 and 7 of the Guiding Opinions on the Application of the System of Pleading Guilty and Accepting Punishment with Leniency, it conforms to the above understanding. Therefore, lawyers should fully inform the defendant or criminal suspect of the scope and content of confession and punishment, so as to avoid the situation that the defendant or criminal suspect is "unwilling to plead guilty orally and admit punishment", or even plead guilty and admit punishment, but finally fail to be lenient.
Before witnessing confession and punishment, lawyers should first accurately understand and master the system of confession and punishment, including laws and basic principles. In addition, it is necessary to fully understand whether the criminal suspect, that is, the defendant, voluntarily pleads guilty and whether his personal will is influenced by other factors, which will directly determine whether the sentencing can be lenient.