Generally speaking, pleading guilty means that the defendant admits the criminal charges against him. However, in the sense of procedural law, confession is a legal act, which can cause the occurrence, change or termination of certain procedures in criminal proceedings. Therefore, it is necessary to further explore its constitutive conditions and legal significance. The author believes that the oral supply in procedural law has the following elements:
First, pleading guilty refers to the self-admission behavior in the pre-trial stage when the criminal case has been prosecuted and the evidence has been shown, which is the time requirement for pleading guilty. In criminal proceedings, it is possible for criminal suspects and defendants to admit their criminal charges throughout the proceedings. However, the confession behavior of criminal suspects in the investigation or prosecution stage should not be given the meaning of procedural law, so it does not belong to the confession mentioned in procedural law. The main reasons for excluding the confession behavior of criminal suspects in the investigation, examination and prosecution stage are as follows: on the one hand, it is necessary to prevent criminal suspects from confessing a misdemeanor in order to escape a felony before finding out the facts of the crime, so as to avoid punishment; On the other hand, it is also necessary to prevent investigation organs or procuratorial organs from inducing criminal suspects to make confessions of guilt or felony without ascertaining the facts of the crime; More importantly, because the confession in procedural law will affect the process and form of litigation, it can only be based on the premise that the investigation, examination and prosecution have ended and the investigation of crimes has ended, so that the confession will not affect the investigation of the facts of the case. Therefore, it should be clear that the confession in the sense of procedural law only refers to the confession in the pre-trial stage, and the confession of criminal facts by criminal suspects in the investigation, examination and prosecution stage cannot be used as the basis for starting or changing criminal proceedings, so it is not a confession in the sense of procedural law.
Second, confession is a confession made by the defendant based on evidence display, and it is an essential element of confession. The purpose of evidence display is to make both parties know each other's litigation evidence, so as to better participate in litigation and improve the efficiency of finding out the facts of the case through litigation. For the defendant, the presentation of evidence can make him make a more accurate judgment on the degree of proof of the facts of the case by the prosecution, which has a fundamental impact on his litigation behavior. In the process of presenting evidence, the defendant can comprehensively and fully evaluate and weigh the prosecution's evidence with the help of his lawyer. If he thinks that the prosecution's evidence is not enough to prove his crime, he will choose strict trial procedures in order to get acquitted. If you think that the prosecution's evidence is sufficient to prove or may prove that it is guilty, you will consider giving up the strict trial procedure in exchange for a quick procedure to reduce the burden of litigation and obtain the commutation of the substantive judgment. The purpose of establishing guilty plea system in criminal proceedings is to make the simplification of proceedings legal by urging the defendant to plead guilty. When the defendant comprehensively weighed the prosecution's evidence through evidence presentation and made a guilty plea decision on this basis, it not only recognized the probative force of the prosecution's evidence, but also recognized the legitimacy of hearing the case according to the summary procedure. Therefore, it is an essential element for the defendant to know all the evidence of the prosecution through evidence display and decide whether to admit the crime on this basis.
Thirdly, pleading guilty is an admission made by the defendant before the judge in the presence of his defense lawyer, which is a formal requirement of pleading guilty. In criminal proceedings, criminal suspects and defendants are usually in an extremely unfavorable litigation position. Not only do they lack the necessary legal knowledge, so they can't effectively protect their legal rights, but they are also vulnerable to the influence of the surrounding environment and make decisions against their will because they lose their personal freedom. In order to ensure that the defendant's guilty plea decision is made on the basis of fully and effectively weighing the prosecution's evidence and his own interests, a lawyer is needed to provide him with legal help, so that he can face a neutral judge and make a decision with as little external influence as possible. Therefore, the presence of the defense lawyer and facing the judge are the formal elements of the confession.