I. Criminal suspects in the investigation stage of the litigation rights have been effectively safeguarded The defense system is an important system of criminal procedure to ensure that criminal suspects and defendants exercise their right to defense in accordance with the law. The new Criminal Procedure Law focuses on improving the legal status and role of the defense in criminal proceedings. Articles 33 and 96 of the current Criminal Procedure Law provide that criminal suspects and defendants may appoint a defender at the stages of prosecution and trial, and that only lawyers may be engaged to provide legal assistance at the stage of investigation. Taking into account the fact that criminal suspects and defendants enjoy the right to defense throughout the entire process, the new Criminal Procedure Law adds the following provision: criminal suspects have the right to appoint a defender from the date of their first interrogation by the investigating authorities or the adoption of coercive measures. During the investigation, only a lawyer may be appointed as a defender. The investigating authorities shall inform the criminal suspect of the right to appoint a defender when the suspect is first interrogated or when compulsory measures are taken against him or her. At the same time, an additional provision is added: "During the period of investigation, a defense lawyer may provide legal assistance to the suspect; represent him in complaints and charges; apply for changes in compulsory measures; and learn from the investigating authorities about the suspect's suspected crimes and the relevant circumstances of the case, and offer opinions." This amendment further clarifies the legal status of lawyers in the investigative stage, and is conducive to better utilization of the role of lawyers. Second, the amendment to improve the lawyer to meet with the file reading procedures new criminal procedure law revision fully absorbed the relevant provisions of the lawyers law, improve the defense lawyer to meet with criminal suspects and defendants in custody, strengthened the lawyers in accordance with the performance of their duties to safeguard. Article 96 of the current Criminal Procedure Law provides that, during the investigation stage, in cases involving State secrets, the hiring of lawyers by criminal suspects and the meeting of lawyers with criminal suspects in custody must be approved by the investigating authorities. The amended Lawyers Law makes different provisions, stipulating that lawyers have the right to meet with criminal suspects and defendants on the basis of a lawyer's practising certificate, a certificate from a law firm and a power of attorney, or an official letter of legal aid. Lawyers meeting with criminal suspects and defendants are not subject to wiretapping. The new Criminal Procedure Law absorbs the relevant content of the Lawyers Law and stipulates that in cases of crimes against national security, crimes of terrorist activity and particularly important bribery crimes, defense lawyers who meet with criminal suspects in custody during the period of investigation shall be permitted to do so by the investigating authorities. This solves the problem of convergence between the Criminal Procedure Law and the Law on Lawyers, ensures the unity of law and justice, and, at the same time, solves the problems that actually exist in investigations. Article 36 of the current Criminal Procedure Law provides that defense lawyers may inspect, excerpt and copy the procedural documents and technical identification materials of the case at the stage of reviewing and prosecuting, and may inspect, excerpt and copy the materials of the facts of the crime charged in the case at the stage of trial. The revised Lawyers Law has expanded the scope of defense lawyers' access to files at the review and prosecution stage. The new Criminal Procedure Law absorbed the relevant content of the Lawyers Law, stipulating that defense lawyers may inspect, excerpt and copy the materials of the alleged criminal facts of the case at both the prosecution and trial stages. Third, the legal supervision of investigative measures has been strengthened In order to further bring into play the supervisory functions of the legal supervisory organs and to safeguard the lawful rights and interests of citizens, the new Criminal Procedure Law has strengthened the supervision of investigative measures. The new Criminal Procedure Law adds provisions stipulating that the parties, their defenders, litigation agents and interested persons have the right to appeal or lodge complaints with the judicial organs and their staff if they have committed any of the following acts: (a) failure to release, lift or change compulsory measures when the legal period for the adoption of such measures has expired; (b) failure to return the deposit for the release of the person on bail pending trial when the deposit should be returned; (c) seizure, detention, freezing or refusal to release property not related to the case; and (d) seizure, detention, freezing of or refusal to release property not related to the case. (c) the adoption of measures of seizure, detention or freezing of property not related to the case; (d) the failure to lift the seizure, detention or freezing of property; (e) the embezzlement, misappropriation, misappropriation, exchange or violation of the provisions of the law in the use of seized, detained or frozen property. The organ accepting the complaint or charge shall deal with it in a timely manner. Those who are dissatisfied with the handling may appeal to the people's procuratorate at the same or a higher level. A case directly accepted by a people's procuratorate may be appealed to the people's procuratorate at the next higher level. The people's procuratorate shall examine the complaint in a timely manner, and if the situation is true, it shall notify the organ concerned to rectify the situation. Fourth, the illegal evidence exclusion system has been supplemented and improved. The evidence system is the cornerstone of criminal procedure, and plays a key role in ensuring the quality of cases and the correct conviction and sentencing. The amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law have supplemented and improved the illegal evidence exclusion system. At the same time, it is stipulated that no one shall be forced to prove his or her guilt. The current Criminal Procedure Law makes provisions for strictly prohibiting the extortion of confessions by torture and the collection of evidence by other unlawful methods. In order to further curb, institutionally, the use of torture to extort confessions and other unlawful methods of evidence collection, and to safeguard judicial justice and the lawful rights of those involved in criminal proceedings, the Criminal Procedure Law has been amended to add the provision that no one shall be compelled to testify to his or her own guilt to the provisions on the use of torture to extort confessions. At the same time, it is stipulated that confessions of criminal suspects and defendants collected by torture or other unlawful methods, as well as witness testimonies and victim statements collected by violence, threats and other unlawful methods, shall be excluded. Where physical or documentary evidence is collected in violation of the provisions of the law and may seriously affect the administration of justice, it shall be corrected or a reasonable explanation shall be given; where no correction or reasonable explanation can be given, the evidence shall be excluded. The new Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that the people's courts, people's procuratorates and public security organs have the obligation to exclude unlawful evidence, and also sets out the procedures for investigating the exclusion of unlawful evidence in the course of court hearings. In the course of a court investigation into the legality of evidence collection, the people's procuratorate shall certify the legality of evidence collection. The people's court may notify the investigator or other person concerned to appear in court to explain the situation. The investigator or other person concerned may also request to appear in court to explain the situation. Upon notification by the people's court, the person concerned shall appear in court. V. Standardizing the system of witness testimony Witnesses testifying in court is of great significance in verifying the evidence, ascertaining the facts of the case, and making correct judgments. In the current judicial practice, witnesses, experts should testify in court but not in court is more prominent, affecting the fairness of the trial, the need for further specific regulation. The new criminal procedure law to clarify the scope of witnesses to testify in court. Provides that, the public prosecutor, the party or the defense, the agent of the witness has objections to the testimony of the witness, and the witness testimony on the case of conviction and sentencing has a significant impact on the people's court that the witness is necessary to testify in court, the witness shall appear in court to testify. The public prosecutor, the party or the defender, the litigation agent has objections to the opinion of the appraisal, the people's court considers it necessary for the appraiser to appear in court, the appraiser shall appear in court to testify. After the people's court notice, the appraiser refuses to testify in court, the appraisal shall not be used as the basis of the case. At the same time, the provisions of the compulsory attendance system, the people's court notice, the witness does not have a justifiable reason to testify, the people's court may be compelled to appear in court. If the witness avoids appearing in court without a valid reason or refuses to testify after appearing in court, and the circumstances are serious, he or she shall, with the approval of the presiding officer, be sentenced to up to ten days' detention. In view of the fact that compelling a spouse, parent or child to testify against a defendant in court is not conducive to the maintenance of family ties, it is stipulated that the spouse, parent or child of the defendant is excluded. The new Criminal Procedure Law also stipulates that witnesses shall be subsidized for transportation, accommodation, meals and other expenses incurred in fulfilling their duty to testify. Subsidies for witness testimony are included in the operating expenses of the judicial organs and are guaranteed by the finances of the government at the same level. If a witness with a work unit testifies, his or her work unit may not deduct or in effect deduct his or her wages, bonuses and other benefits. Article 49 of the current Criminal Procedure Law provides that judicial organs shall guarantee the safety of witnesses and their close relatives. In practice, the protection of witnesses and experts can be realized by holding them accountable for acts of retaliation on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also necessary to strengthen the protection of witnesses and experts in some serious criminal cases in a targeted manner. To this end, the new Criminal Procedure Law adds provisions that, in cases of crimes against national security, crimes of terrorist activities, crimes of organizations of a triad nature, drug crimes, etc., where the personal safety of witnesses, experts or victims or their close relatives is at risk as a result of testifying in a proceeding, the people's courts, people's procuratorates and public security organs shall take one or more of the following protective measures: not to disclose personal information such as real names, addresses and work units; to take measures not to disclose their real names, addresses and work units; and to take measures not to disclose the personal information of witnesses and experts. The people's courts, people's procuratorates and public security organs shall take one or more of the following protective measures: not to disclose personal information such as true name, address and work unit; to take measures to testify in court without revealing their appearance or true voice; to prohibit specific persons from contacting witnesses, experts, victims and their close relatives; to take specialized protective measures for their persons and residences; and to take other necessary protective measures. The new Criminal Procedure Law provides that witnesses, experts and victims who believe that their personal safety or that of their close relatives is in danger as a result of testifying in a proceeding may request protection from the people's court, the people's procuratorate or the public security authorities. Provisions have been added to stipulate that the investigator's questioning of witnesses may be conducted on-site, or at the witness's unit, residence or location proposed by the witness. The above provisions are targeted to strengthen the protection of witnesses, experts and victims in some serious crime cases, which is not only necessary for the protection of civil rights, but also of great significance for the fight against crime. Sixth, the scope of application of legal aid has been expanded In order to further safeguard the defense rights of criminal suspects and defendants, the new Criminal Procedure Law has expanded the scope of application of legal aid in criminal proceedings. According to the current Criminal Procedure Law, only criminal suspects and defendants who are deaf, mute or blind, and who have not appointed a defender due to financial difficulties, etc., may apply to legal aid organizations for legal aid, and the legal aid organizations shall assign lawyers to provide legal aid to them. The new Criminal Procedure Law extends the scope of legal aid to cover criminal suspects and defendants who may be sentenced to life imprisonment or the death penalty but have not appointed a defender, the people's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs shall notify the legal aid institution of the need to provide legal aid for the defendant's defense. This provision will better safeguard the rights and interests of criminal suspects and defendants. These amendments provide a legal basis for further safeguarding the right to defense and other rights of criminal suspects and defendants, and for giving full play to the role of lawyers in criminal proceedings. VII. The scope of application of summary procedures has been appropriately adjusted In order to better allocate judicial resources, improve the efficiency of litigation, and implement the separation of complexity and simplicity of cases, the scope of application of summary procedures has been appropriately adjusted to differentiate between the different circumstances of the cases under the premise of guaranteeing judicial impartiality, which is conducive to improving the efficiency of litigation. The current Code of Criminal Procedure provides for summary procedures in public prosecution cases and in private prosecution cases in which the penalty may be up to three years' imprisonment. In accordance with the needs of judicial practice, the new Criminal Procedure Law amends the scope of cases to be tried under summary procedures to read as follows: cases under the jurisdiction of the Basic People's Courts may be tried under summary procedures if the following conditions are met: the facts of the case are clear and the evidence is sufficient; the defendant admits to having committed the crime, and has no objections to the facts of the crime as alleged in the indictment; and the defendant has no objections to the application of the summary procedures. The people's procuratorate may recommend to the people's court the application of summary procedures when instituting public proceedings. The new Criminal Procedure Law also clearly stipulates that summary procedures shall not be applied in any of the following cases: where the defendant is blind, deaf or mute, or a mental patient who has not yet completely lost the ability to recognize or control his or her own behavior; where there is a significant social impact; where some of the defendants in the case of the same crime do not plead guilty, or where there is an objection to the application of summary procedures; and where it is inappropriate to apply summary procedures to the trial. The new Criminal Procedure Law clearly stipulates the scope of cases that should be heard in the second instance, and at the same time, makes restrictive provisions for remanding cases for retrial. With regard to second-instance procedures, in order to ensure that cases are handled fairly, the new Criminal Procedure Law clarifies the scope of cases to be heard at second instance, adding that the People's Court of Second Instance shall form a collegial panel and hold a hearing for the following cases: appeals in which the defendant, the private prosecutor and their legal representatives raise objections to the facts and evidence found at first instance, which may affect the conviction and sentencing of the defendant; and appeals in which the defendant has been sentenced to the death penalty; Cases in which the People's Procuratorate protests against the verdict; and other cases that should be heard in court. At the same time, it is stipulated that where the people's court of second instance decides not to hold a trial, it shall interrogate the defendant and hear the views of other parties, defenders and litigation agents. In order to avoid repeated remand, the new Criminal Procedure Law improves the remand system by adding that, after the people's court of first instance has made a judgment on a case that has been remanded for retrial due to unclear facts or insufficient evidence in the original judgment, and the defendant lodges an appeal or the people's procuratorate lodges a counter-appeal, the people's court of second instance shall make a judgment or ruling in accordance with the law. The provision of the current Criminal Procedure Law that no additional sentence shall be imposed on appeal is an important principle of criminal procedure. However, in practice, there are cases in which the principle of not increasing the penalty on appeal is circumvented by the people's court of second instance remanding the case for retrial and the lower people's court increasing the penalty in the retrial. For this reason, the new Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that no increase in the penalty shall be made on remand: in cases where the people's court of second instance remands the case to the people's court of first instance for a retrial, except for cases in which there are new facts of the crime and the people's procuratorate files a supplementary indictment, the people's court of first instance shall not increase the penalty of the defendant. The people's court of first instance shall not increase the penalty of the defendant. IX. Improvements to penalty enforcement procedures Penalty enforcement procedures are important norms for punishing and reforming criminals. The new Criminal Procedure Law focuses on improving the provisions on provisional release from imprisonment and strengthening the supervision by the people's procuratorates of the reduction of sentence, parole and provisional release from imprisonment. The application of provisional release from prison is strictly regulated. Suspension of imprisonment is a system whereby criminals who meet the legal requirements are executed outside of prison. The new Criminal Procedure Law further strictly regulates the procedures for deciding on, approving and promptly admitting offenders to prison under provisional release, and, in order to prevent offenders from taking advantage of this system to evade punishment, has added provisions stipulating that: if an offender who does not meet the conditions for provisional release is temporarily released from prison through bribery or other unlawful means, his or her period of time spent outside of prison shall not be counted as part of the execution of the sentence; and, if the offender escapes during the period of provisional release, the period of time during which he or she escapes shall not be counted as part of the execution of the sentence. The period during which the offender escapes while serving a temporary sentence outside prison shall not be counted as part of the sentence. Strengthening supervision by people's procuratorates of sentence reductions, parole and provisional release from prison. The new Criminal Procedure Law has added a provision stating that when prisons and detention centers put forward proposals for commutation of sentence, parole, or provisional release from imprisonment, they shall at the same time send a copy of the written opinion to the people's procuratorate. The people's procuratorate may submit its written opinions to the people's court or authorizing authority. The Criminal Procedure Law, which aims to punish crimes and protect the innocent from criminal prosecution, is not only concerned with the stability of the State and the harmony of the social order, but also with the major rights and interests of citizens in relation to their basic human rights, such as freedom, honor, property and even life. As China's legal system continues to improve, this "Life Law" will become more and more advanced and mature. If you are not clear about the handling of the situation, you can consult a lawyer to define.
Legal Objective:The Supreme Prosecutor recently announced the revised "People's Procuratorate Criminal Procedure Rules (Trial)", the new Criminal Procedure Law involves the concept of procuratorial work, the meaning of the provisions of the law according to the spirit of the legislation to be accurately defined. The Rules of Criminal Procedure of the People's Procuratorates (for Trial Implementation) define the term "extorting a confession by torture". It states that "extorting a confession by torture" refers to the use of corporal punishment or the disguised use of corporal punishment to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering on a criminal suspect in order to extract a confession. In accordance with the provisions of the new Criminal Procedure Law, the rules make it clear that "confessions of criminal suspects collected by torture or other unlawful methods, as well as witness testimonies and victim statements collected by violence, threats and other unlawful methods, shall be excluded in accordance with the law, and shall not be used as the basis for requesting, authorizing or deciding on an arrest or for transferring them for examination and prosecution, or for instituting a public indictment. " It is also stipulated that other unlawful methods refer to methods that force a criminal suspect to confess against his or her will by a degree of violation of the law and a degree of coercion comparable to that of torture or violence or threat. Define "particularly significant bribery crimes" "People's Procuratorate Criminal Procedure Rules (for trial implementation)" points out that one of the following circumstances, is particularly significant bribery crimes: suspected of bribery in the amount of more than 500,000 yuan, the circumstances of the crime are egregious; there is a significant impact on society; involves the country's major interests. Renmin University of China Law School relevant professor that this definition is more suitable for China's economic development, in line with the need to combat crime, but also for so many years in China's judicial practice. The rules make it clear that in cases of particularly significant bribery crimes, where the criminal suspect is detained or put under residential surveillance, the investigation department of the people's procuratorate shall notify the detention center or public security organ in writing when the criminal suspect is sent to the detention center or sent to the public security organ for execution, and defense lawyers meeting with the criminal suspect during the period of investigation shall be permitted to do so by the people's procuratorate. The investigative department of the people's procuratorate shall give its opinion as to whether to grant permission, and shall report its decision to the procurator-general within three days and reply to the defense counsel. The rules require that when the people's procuratorate handles a particularly serious bribery case, it shall notify the public security organs of the detention center or residence under surveillance and the defense counsel after the circumstances impeding the investigation have disappeared, and the defense counsel may meet with the criminal suspect without permission. For particularly important bribery cases, the people's procuratorate shall permit the defense counsel to meet with the criminal suspect before the investigation is completed. Refinement of the death penalty review supervision procedures, the Supreme Procuratorate can interrogate the defendant "People's Procuratorate Criminal Procedure Rules (for trial implementation)" for the Supreme People's Procuratorate in accordance with the Supreme People's Court's death penalty review activities to implement legal supervision, to be further refined and clearly defined. According to the regulations, the Supreme Procuratorate may interrogate the defendant when necessary