The changing concept of defense system

The Lawyers Law, revised in 2007 and implemented on June 6, 2008, made a breakthrough in criminal defense system. Lawyer system is an important part of democratic system in modern society ruled by law. It is imported in China. Today, it has not reached the level of harmonious coexistence with China society with thousands of years of feudal historical traditions. Although we are now shouting freedom, equality, democracy and the rule of law, the concepts of "public power is greater than private power" and "power is greater than law" still deeply affect people. From the top down to the ordinary people, there are prejudices and misunderstandings about lawyers, especially for defense lawyers, who think that "lawyers speak for the bad guys and help the wicked to excuse themselves", and the public security law is the embodiment of justice, and lawyers are the spokesmen of evil. This is actually ignorance, misunderstanding or deliberate distortion of the legitimacy of criminal defense. Theoretically, it is generally believed that the most important basis for the legitimacy of criminal defense is its axiological basis. The right to defense is a basic human right, and protecting the right to defense means protecting human rights. The value of the defense system lies in protecting human rights and preventing the abuse of the state penalty power, which is the axiological basis of the legitimacy of criminal defense.

Western scholars believe that criminal law should include not the defendant, but the country. Because, in a peaceful society, the most frequent and prone place of state power violence is criminal proceedings, which can legally deprive citizens of their property, freedom and even life. In the face of a powerful national machine, any individual is weak. Once the legitimate rights of the weak are not guaranteed, it will not only cause irreversible harm to the weak, but more importantly, it will lead to the abuse of public power and become a legal means to suppress citizens, then the levee of democracy and the rule of law will collapse. Therefore, the criminal law must first contain the state, and there are two main methods: one is to prevent the arbitrary introduction of the state punishment right through a legally prescribed punishment for a crime; The second is to establish the criminal defense system, to give individuals legal means to fight against state power, to protect the human rights of defendants from arbitrary infringement of the state power of punishment, and to promote the correct exercise of the state power of punishment. The legitimacy of criminal defense lies in that restricting power does not mean resisting power, and protecting human rights does not mean indulging in crime. Therefore, although the lawyer's defense behavior is directly reflected in safeguarding the interests of criminal suspects and defendants, the result is to safeguard the entire fair and just legal system. Bacon said in On Justice: "An unjust judgment is more serious than many illegal acts. Because these illegal acts only pollute the water flow, but unfair referees have destroyed the water source. " It can be seen that unjust national judicial acts are more harmful than citizens' criminal acts. Criminal defense is undoubtedly one of the systems to prevent water pollution. In China, the right to defense is a clear constitutional right, which is undoubtedly a footnote to the legitimacy of criminal defense.