If the criminal suspect pleads guilty and admits punishment, the people's procuratorate shall fully listen to the opinions of the criminal suspect, defender or lawyer on duty and try to reach an agreement through consultation before making sentencing suggestions.
What is the positive role of lawyers?
(a) to ensure that the defendant's confession meets the requirements of "three natures"
The core content of "pleading guilty" is "truthfully confessing one's crime", that is, the defendant voluntarily confesses the true situation of the prosecuted behavior and admits that it constitutes a crime. It needs three elements: first, the voluntary nature of confession; Second, the voluntary nature of confession must be based on authenticity; Third, it is wise for the defendant to know whether the alleged behavior constitutes a crime and the possible legal consequences of pleading guilty. The main function of a lawyer is to ensure that the defendant's confession is voluntary, true and wise.
Under normal circumstances, the defendant does not have legal common sense or his legal rights are restricted, so it is difficult to objectively and accurately understand and grasp the factual basis of the case and the legal consequences of pleading guilty. Therefore, a professional lawyer must be involved in the case of confession and punishment.
(2) Strive for the best interests of the defendant.
If the defendant sacrifices his legitimate rights, such as the interests of the court debate procedure, he should gain relative substantive interests, otherwise it will not conform to the principle of equality of interests and rights. Therefore, the criminal suspects and defendants who choose to plead guilty should be given corresponding benefits. Effective communication between lawyers and investigation organs, procuratorial organs, courts and victims can strive for the best interests of defendants, including the application of lenient and compulsory measures in the investigation stage, non-prosecution in the examination and prosecution stage, light sentences in the trial stage, reconciliation with victims, and minimizing compensation.
In the investigation stage, lawyers can make suggestions on changing compulsory measures. The author does not advocate the application of the leniency system in the investigation stage. Since the lenient system of pleading guilty is applicable to the investigation stage, the investigation organ may be inclined to obtain the confession of the defendant and be lazy to exercise its obligation to investigate the facts of the case. However, criminal suspects and their defense lawyers can voluntarily confess to the investigation organ during the investigation stage. Relatively speaking, the criminal suspect who voluntarily confesses is less harmful to the person and society. Lawyers can suggest that the investigation organs apply less intensive coercive measures, and the prosecution opinions made at the end of the investigation clearly suggest that the procuratorial organs treat the suspects leniently.
In the trial stage, the effective defense of lawyers helps to obtain a judgment in favor of the defendant. According to the trial measures, lawyers can make suggestions on the "applicable procedures for case review after pleading guilty and admitting punishment". The application of different review procedures will actually have a great impact on the final trial result of the case. Especially when there may be doubts about the innocence of the entity or the innocence of the procedure in the case, the review procedure of the case actually plays the final "check" role.
In our real life, it is entirely possible for lawyers to plead guilty and admit punishment. At this time, the suspect is sincere, so some subsequent defense activities can still be attended by lawyers, so even if you plead guilty, lawyers are very important.
Legal basis:
The Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Justice "Guiding Opinions on Applying the System of Pleading Guilty and Accepting Punishment" Article 33.
Sentencing suggestions. If the criminal suspect pleads guilty and admits punishment, the people's procuratorate shall put forward sentencing suggestions on the main punishment, additional punishment and whether probation is applicable. Before putting forward suggestions on sentencing, the people's procuratorate shall fully listen to the opinions of the criminal suspect, defender or lawyer on duty, and try to reach consensus through consultation.
When handling a case of pleading guilty and admitting punishment, the people's procuratorate shall generally put forward suggestions on determining punishment and sentencing. For new types of unusual criminal cases, as well as felony cases with complicated sentencing circumstances, we can also put forward suggestions on amplitude punishment and sentencing. When making sentencing suggestions, the reasons and basis shall be explained.
If the criminal suspect pleads guilty and admits punishment without other statutory sentencing circumstances, the people's procuratorate may, according to the facts and nature of the crime, be lenient on the basis of the benchmark punishment and put forward suggestions on determining the punishment and sentencing. If there are other statutory sentencing circumstances, the people's procuratorate shall comprehensively plead guilty and admit punishment and other statutory sentencing circumstances, and put forward suggestions on conviction and sentencing with reference to relevant sentencing norms.