Legal aid is a social welfare undertaking to help the poor and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the vulnerable groups in society, and it is also an important measure for China to practice the general plan of governing the country according to law and build a well-off society in an all-round way. Legal aid funds refer to the expenses of legal aid institutions established according to law for carrying out legal aid work. Legal aid is a social welfare undertaking to help the poor and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the disadvantaged groups in society, and it is also an important measure for China to practice the strategy of governing the country according to law and build a well-off society in an all-round way. Legal aid funds refer to the expenses of legal aid institutions established according to law for carrying out legal aid work.
There are only two sources of legal aid funds:
One is financial support based on government responsibility, that is, financial allocation, which is the main channel and foundation of legal aid funds.
Second, social donation, which is a supplementary channel for legal aid funds, includes donations received in the form of funds, donations from citizens, legal persons or other organizations to legal aid or to some socially disadvantaged groups, and donations from legal service organizations.
Funds management should follow the following principles:
1. The principle of earmarking funds. The purpose of legal aid is to ensure that poor parties can realize their legitimate rights and interests equally. In this sense, the nature of legal aid funds is similar to relief funds. The state has stricter regulations on the use and management of relief funds than other funds. In order to ensure the timely and effective legal protection of the poor parties to the greatest extent, no matter which channel the legal aid funds come from, they must be used for special purposes, and the use and nature of the legal aid funds must not be changed. If corruption or misappropriation constitutes a crime, criminal responsibility must be investigated according to law.
2. The principle of accepting the supervision of the financial and auditing departments. This kind of supervision is to check and supervise the legality, rationality and efficiency of the income and expenditure of legal aid funds, and it is also an important means to check and supervise the social benefits of the use of legal aid funds.
3. Accept the inspection by the judicial administrative department and the planning of funds. The use of legal aid funds shall be planned, budgeted and settled by judicial administrative departments at all levels, including the review of subsidy standards for various cases. In particular, the municipal and county (district) judicial bureaus should check the use of legal aid funds at least twice a year, and correct the problems in time and report them to the higher judicial administrative department.
Related case: Zhu, a farmer in Dazhu County, was sentenced to death by Dazhou Intermediate People's Court in the first instance for robbing the house with others and causing the victim's death. Recently, through the legal aid of Dazhou Legal Aid Center and the dedicated efforts of legal aid lawyers, the Sichuan Higher People's Court finally commuted Zhu's death sentence with a two-year suspension. On July 28th, 2111, Zhu invited Zhang to take a chisel to steal in Beigao Township, Daxian County. The two of them used a chisel to break into the house, and they successively entered two villagers' houses to steal. Subsequently, the same method was used to string into the victim's home, 311 yuan, who stole cash. When they were about to leave, Zhou, who was sent home, found that in order to prevent Zhou from yelling in order to escape, they dragged Zhou into the bedroom and tied him up, and blocked Zhou's mouth with clothes, which led to Zhou's mechanical suffocation due to mouth blockage and oppression of his chest and abdomen. After Zhu was arrested, the Dazhou People's Procuratorate filed a public prosecution. After hearing by the Dazhou Intermediate People's Court, Zhu was found guilty of robbery, sentenced to death, deprived of political rights for life, and confiscated all his personal property. After receiving the verdict, Zhu refused to accept the first-instance judgment, appealed to the Sichuan Higher People's Court and applied for legal aid from Dazhou Legal Aid Center. After accepting Zhu's application, Dazhou Legal Aid Center immediately assigned a lawyer to meet with Zhu and obtained relevant materials to understand the case. After careful consideration of the case and the trial process of the first instance, the aid lawyer thinks that the trial procedure of the court of first instance is illegal, the victim's family has the intention to understand Zhu's behavior, and Zhu has made meritorious deeds. The sentence in the first instance is too heavy, and Zhu should get a light sentence. In order to ensure that the defendant got the correct and appropriate punishment, the aid lawyer immediately went to the victim's home, conveyed Zhu's remorse to the victim's family, and paid the civil compensation, which won the understanding of the victim's family and issued a letter of understanding. At the same time, the aid lawyer actively cooperated with the public security and procuratorial organs according to the materials put forward by Zhu to report other people's crimes, and confirmed the authenticity of the facts after a lot of work. Send the above materials and defense opinions to the Sichuan Higher People's Court in time before the collegiate bench of the second instance opens the court session. With a lot of factual evidence, the court finally adopted the appeal opinion of the aid lawyer, revoked the judgment of the court of first instance on Zhu's death sentence, and sentenced Zhou to death, suspended for two years and deprived of political rights for life. The defendant Zhu finally got the judgment he deserved.