According to the spirit of Article 34 of the Criminal Procedure Law and Chapter 6 of the Lawyers Law, China not only draws lessons from the practice that legal aid conditions in various countries reflect the general law, but also fully considers the differences of different economic development levels and citizens' income levels. According to relevant regulations, there are two conditions for legal aid: general conditions and special conditions.
I. General conditions
1. There are sufficient reasons to prove that you need legal help to safeguard your legitimate rights and interests. The so-called legitimate rights and interests here mean that the matters for which assistance is applied conform to the provisions of the law, and are rights that should be protected by law or rights that are allowed to be exercised by law. For example, citizens' requests for support, compensation for work-related injuries, and compensation for state infringement are all rights expressly protected by law; Citizens' right to criminal defense is a right permitted by law and has the legitimacy required by legal aid conditions.
The so-called sufficient reason means that the applicant can provide factual basis to prove his interest claim. The so-called need for legal help means that the parties themselves do not understand the law, have no litigation skills to participate in the trial, and cannot effectively safeguard their legitimate rights and interests without the legal help of legal aid personnel. There is no need to provide legal aid to civil litigants who are legal workers themselves. This condition is also called legality condition.
2. Unable or unable to pay legal service fees due to financial difficulties. Whether the applicant meets this standard is mainly determined according to the local economic development and people's living standards, with reference to the minimum living security standard stipulated by the local government and the unemployment relief standard stipulated by the labor department. Families whose per capita income is lower than the minimum living standard and unemployment relief standard shall be exempted from all legal service fees; Although the per capita income of the family is higher than the above two standards, if it is really difficult to pay all the legal service fees, the legal service fees should be reduced or exempted as appropriate.
Second, the special conditions
Special conditions refer to the parties who meet the explicit provisions of the law (including judicial interpretation) and can obtain legal aid through the designation of the court without examining whether they meet the above general conditions. For example, if a blind person, a deaf-mute person, a minor and a defendant who may be sentenced to death as stipulated in Article 34 of the Criminal Procedure Law have not entrusted a defender in a criminal trial, the people's court shall designate legal aid for them. The court should give priority to such appointment.