It is generally believed that the best way to maintain social stability is to control society, that is, to organize social production and life into the highest possible orderly state. An orderly society is one with fewer social contradictions and easier to solve. Social contradictions can be divided into two categories: one is the fierce conflict between power balance groups; The other is the fierce conflict between the strong group and the weak group. The former can be solved through various mediation, arbitration and judicial mechanisms preset by society; For the latter group, the situation is much more complicated. In today's market economy society, the design of various conflict resolution mechanisms is branded with economic benefits and often accompanied by certain costs. As the bottom line of social justice, the judicial mechanism is no exception, which is mainly manifested in the collection of court litigation fees, lawyer service fees and appraisal fees. Undoubtedly, for most vulnerable groups, the judicial mechanism of various economic costs is out of reach, and the rights given to them by law are like castles in the air. When they are infringed, unless there is no way to sue, they can only take extra-legal measures to solve it themselves. All kinds of conflicts caused by this contradiction will seriously endanger social order and become the source of many criminal phenomena. Therefore, as long as the cost of the judicial system is preset and there are socially disadvantaged groups, legal aid must be implemented from the perspective of maintaining social stability.
Legal aid has the following important functions: first, it introduces the solution of social contradictions into legal channels and restores legal trust. The implementation of the legal aid system is conducive to guiding such parties to the track of solving contradictions through legal means, thus enhancing the enforcement of laws at all levels of society and promoting the understanding and affinity of the poor and disadvantaged classes in society. China handles hundreds of thousands of civil and administrative legal aid cases every year, so that a large number of civil and administrative disputes that may intensify into criminal cases can be resolved according to law; In particular, legal mediation and guidance of many group contradictions, such as collective petitions caused by house demolition, labor disputes, competition for land and water resources, and local tensions, are extremely beneficial to stabilizing regional social order and restoring public trust in law and justice. Michelle Maccann, a famous American scholar, wrote enthusiastically in Legal Aid for Criminal Defence, "The poor see that they can enjoy the protection of the judicial system like the rich, so they support the rule of law more." The second is the poverty alleviation function. The poverty alleviation function of legal aid is manifested in two forms: direct and indirect. The former means that through the intervention of the national legal aid system, the lawyer's fee of the aided person is exempted, so as not to make the already stretched economic situation worse; Moreover, in disputes and lawsuits with direct economic benefits, legal aid can be used to realize the legitimate rights and interests given to the recipients by law and improve the economic situation. The latter mainly refers to resolving and eliminating all kinds of contradictions and disputes by providing legal aid to poor and vulnerable groups, and realizing a peaceful and peaceful social environment conducive to economic development. The legal aid system is called "the legal guarantee of social security" and plays a very important role in promoting the harmonious, coordinated and sustainable development of the socialist market economy. The third is to strengthen the anti-infringement function of the weak. In the field of criminology, the object of crime is a very important factor. Research shows that the victim's physical, psychological and behavioral weaknesses are the most easily used conditions for criminals to commit crimes. There are two reasons why criminals choose this kind of group as their target. First, crime is easy to succeed; Second, this kind of group has weak counterattack ability after success. When legal aid becomes the legal right of the poor and the weak, the ability of the vulnerable groups to resist external infringement will inevitably be strengthened, which will effectively curb the criminals' intention to infringe on the vulnerable groups.
Second, protect litigation rights and highlight legal affinity.
In criminal proceedings, because victims often have the support of powerful national public prosecution organs, criminal suspects and defendants whose freedom is limited become weak in this process, and like other vulnerable social groups, they also become the objects of modern legal aid system. Moreover, because criminal proceedings are related to the basic constitutional rights entrusted to the parties by the Constitution, governments all over the world attach great importance to the construction of due process of their own criminal proceedings, so as to ensure that the vulnerable defendants stand on an equal footing in litigation with the national public prosecution organs, which is extremely important for them. Countries have established criminal legal aid systems to provide free legal representation and defense for poor and special defendants.
The risks faced by the defendant in criminal proceedings are much greater than those faced in civil or administrative proceedings. The result of criminal justice is related to whether the national penalty power is finally started or not, and to the defendant's basic human rights such as life and freedom. Once there is a mistake in criminal proceedings, it will bring disastrous consequences to the defendant. The application of criminal law and the launch of penalty power have dual attributes. "The most effective tool to protect social rights is often the most powerful means to infringe on individual rights. Criminal law is like a double-edged sword. If used properly, individuals and society will benefit from it; If used improperly, individual society will suffer greatly. " The study of western criminal justice system shows that there is an internal relationship between criminal punishment and criminal procedure. The basic starting point of criminal legislation is considered to be "protecting society"; Criminal proceedings focus on "protecting individuals". In abstract theory, protecting society and protecting individuals can be unified. However, due to the problems existing in some specific systems and the magical power of lawyers' money defense, the criminal procedure law has largely become a tool to protect rich defendants, which leads to the function of "punishing (all) crimes and protecting society" and tends to punish crimes without money. As a result, these people punished by criminal law have generated greater resentment (sense of inequality) and contributed to social unrest, which is just the opposite of the purpose of social protection. In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of poor and vulnerable defendants, many countries have stipulated the right of defendants suspected of felony to obtain legal aid, and the right to obtain legal aid is not limited by economic conditions. Many countries also extend criminal legal aid to all criminal cases that may be deprived of liberty.
Another advantage of implementing the legal aid system in criminal proceedings is to promote the recognition and recognition of the law by poor defendants. We might as well make a classified perspective on the criminal defendant: first, the situation of acquitting the defendant. Although the process of obtaining legal aid has no educational function, the unreasonable investigation he has experienced will make him have some distrust of law and justice, which is unfavorable to himself, the law and the society. The implementation of legal aid and other systems that embody the concept of judicial equality and human rights protection will contribute to the establishment of judicial authority, so that he has reason to believe that law and justice are fair and treat all people, including the poor and the weak, and even those who are arrested because of major suspects. The second situation is that the defendant is found guilty. Because the legal aid lawyer effectively defended him, his guilt was lightened and he was punished as a crime, which not only protected his legitimate rights and interests, but also helped him realize the significance of the law and the social harm of his behavior, laying the foundation for educating him to turn over a new leaf. It can be seen that the role of legal aid promotes fair justice on the one hand; On the other hand, for the defendant, its educational and expert significance can not be ignored.
Emphasize affinity and influence. Because the potential subjects of criminal proceedings are all social members who may enter criminal proceedings. Procedural human rights not only reflect the litigation status of the defendant who actually enters the proceedings, but also reflect the legal status of the whole society relative to the state. Furthermore, the affinity and influence of criminal judicial procedure is also the inherent requirement of the utilitarian value of criminal policy focusing on special prevention. In recent years, the proportion of recidivism and recidivism in China has increased, and a considerable number of criminals in some major cases were severely punished in the 1980s. The reason is that China's previous criminal policies and systems paid too much attention to the general prevention of punishment and deterrence, but lacked probation education. Since the reform and opening up, after more than 20 years of efforts, China's legal system construction has made great progress. During the trial of major murder and robbery cases in Zhang Jun and Li Zejun, the legal aid agencies in Chongqing and Changde respectively appointed defense lawyers for more than a dozen defendants in this case according to the current legal aid system in China, thus safeguarding their legal litigation rights. Zhang Jun, the principal offender, admitted in his confession that through the 1980s.
Comparing his two experiences of being arrested and tried, he personally felt the progress of China's legal system. Although he was sentenced to death for heinous crimes, he was still treated humanely in prison and trial procedures.
Third, it triggered the joint efforts of both sides to promote the suspended execution.
The new concept of educational punishment has promoted the transformation of prison from the punishment function of simply implementing negative review mechanism to the positive and forward-looking correction and prevention function. Liszt's thought of "correcting correctable criminals and preventing irreparable criminals from causing harm" has been widely recognized and implemented by all countries, and the pursuit of weakening or even eliminating the personal danger of criminals and preventing recidivism has become the primary purpose of prison execution. In order to correct the subjective composition and personal danger of criminals and transform criminals into self-reliant and useful talents for society, countries have implemented the principles of humanity, education and individualization in penalty execution, labor reform, education reform and prison management. On the premise of maintaining the penalty deprivation function, we should take various measures to educate and reform criminals.
Carrying out the principle of humanity in execution is a manifestation of the civilization and progress of human society, which is conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm of criminals to turn over a new leaf and realizing the purpose of execution. Modern western criminologists describe the essential attributes of bourgeois human nature as humanitarian aspects such as freedom, equality and fraternity. Modern criminal law and penalty theory have undergone a very prominent evolution in human nature and humanitarianism. It is believed that the peak of humanitarianism is to transform bad people into good people and bad people into good people. It is generally believed that to adhere to the principle of humanity, we must first deal with the protection of criminals' rights. Criminals serving sentences in prisons are deprived or restricted of certain rights because they violate the criminal law; But as ordinary citizens, they still enjoy the same rights as other citizens who have not committed crimes as stipulated by the Constitution and laws. These rights include many aspects, such as the right to vote, the right to religious belief, the right to inviolability of personal dignity, the right to criticize and suggest, the right to compensation, the right to remuneration, the right to rest, the legal property right, the right to copyright, the right to inheritance and the right to material assistance. If these rights are not deprived according to law, criminals still enjoy these rights. In addition, China's prison law also stipulates dozens of rights related to execution, such as the right to personal safety inviolability, the right to meet, the right to participate in appropriate sports and cultural and recreational activities, the right to reduce the sentence of those who have made significant contributions, and the right to receive compensation and pension for those who are injured and disabled at work according to law. Of course, criminals should also fulfill their corresponding obligations. These rights are very important for the reform and education of criminals, and they are the minimum rights protection and basic humanitarian conditions for criminals. Professor Chu, a famous criminal jurist in China, pointed out that the great significance of giving criminals rights lies in making criminals in a relatively active position in the process of execution, thus mobilizing the enthusiasm of correction. The rights and obligations of both parties are the legal basis for the joint efforts of both parties (state executive organs and prisoners). The process that both parties enjoy rights and earnestly perform their obligations is the process of cooperation between the two parties, that is, the process of realizing the penalty function. The essence of violating prisoners' rights is to obstruct the realization of the purpose of national punishment. It should be pointed out that the rights of criminals serving sentences in prisons are incomplete. Criminals are imprisoned and their personal freedom is more or less deprived and restricted. When exercising some other legal rights, we have to be restricted and restricted by the former. Therefore, the exercise of those rights closely related to personal freedom cannot be as full, complete and thorough as other citizens. It has become the requirement of the times to establish a prison legal aid system to protect the basic rights and interests of prisoners inside and outside the prison and realize the purpose of state punishment.
Fourth, give full play to the function of legal aid and improve the comprehensive management model of social security.
China has not established a legal aid system for a long time, and the positive role of legal aid in maintaining social stability has not been fully recognized by the government and society. In order to make this system play its due role, I think it can be achieved at least through the following ways:
First of all, in the judicial reform, strengthen the human rights protection function of legal aid. In order to meet the requirements of the development of market economy and the implementation of the general plan of "ruling the country according to law", China is carrying out large-scale judicial reform. "Injecting human rights protection factors into judicial reform" is the understanding of academic and practical circles. The symbol of the success of judicial reform is not the rearrangement and combination of state power, but the increase of the total amount of civil rights and freedoms. In the judicial reform, special attention should be paid to protecting the rights of vulnerable groups in society. In the judicial reform, establishing and strengthening the proper position of legal aid has become an important part of judicial reform in modern countries ruled by law.
The second is to incorporate the legal aid system into the overall plan for comprehensive management of social security. China is in an era of transition from a planned economy to a market economy, with various interest patterns changing rapidly and social contradictions and crimes constantly appearing. China's comprehensive management model of crime prevention has achieved remarkable results, with distinctive characteristics of China, which conforms to the general laws and requirements of crime prevention. But generally speaking, this comprehensive management model pays more attention to "prevention" than "education" and "protecting the basic rights of criminal suspects and defendants" The number of recidivists and recidivists at least shows that there are still many such problems in practice. The crime problem is so serious that it can't be fundamentally solved by cracking down or criminal justice alone. In addition, on the other hand, the market economy is a competitive economy among equal subjects, and the equal status of market subjects requires that the design of crime prevention policies should reflect the concept of human rights protection. The author believes that fighting crime and protecting human rights cannot be neglected. Consciously bringing legal aid and similar systems into the comprehensive management model of social security and strengthening it will help to improve the modern character of this model and treat both prevention and prevention.
The third is to expand the scope of the legal aid system. In order to give full play to the positive role of legal aid system in crime prevention and human rights protection, we should consciously extend the scope of legal aid to both ends of criminal law-social prevention of crime and social protection of criminals and prisoners.
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