At which stage is it best for lawyers to intervene in criminal cases?

In criminal proceedings, lawyers can be entrusted in four stages: investigation, prosecution, trial and appeal, and provide legal help, defense and appeal for criminal suspects and defendants. Then, at which stage does the criminal suspect and defendant entrust a lawyer, and the effect is the best? In the eyes of ordinary people, it should be the result of the defendant's acquittal, light crime or reduction or exemption from criminal responsibility through eloquence in the lawyer's court at the trial stage. In fact, this is a prejudice and misunderstanding. From professionals, we can know that the best time for lawyers to intervene in criminal proceedings should be in the investigation stage, especially on the day when the criminal suspect is first questioned or taken compulsory measures, and the earlier the role, the better. The hardest part is actually in the beginning Only when a criminal suspect hires an entrusted lawyer in the investigation stage can he get timely and effective legal help, exercise the rights conferred by law and lay a solid foundation for the lawyer's later defense work. First, the characteristics of criminal proceedings determine that criminal proceedings are different from other proceedings, with strict litigation stages and different handling organs. From the investigation, prosecution to the end of the trial, the three organs of the Public Prosecution Law divide, coordinate and supervise the case. Very similar to the manufacturing process of factory products, there is a strict division of labor from design, material selection, processing and inspection, and different departments implement strict procedures, cooperate with each other and restrict each other. According to the division of responsibilities of public, procuratorial and legal organs, the stage of filing a case for investigation is mainly the process in which the investigation organ discovers the crime, collects evidence and determines the criminal suspect, that is, the main processing-forming stage of criminal facts and evidence; The stage of examination and prosecution is the process of examining and checking the criminal facts and evidence formed in the investigation stage, exercising the right of public prosecution on behalf of the state according to the facts established in the investigation, and putting forward the opinion of investigating the criminal responsibility of the defendant according to law, that is, the stage of examination and examination of the investigation work-examination; The trial stage is the process of finally confirming the facts and evidence that have been investigated by public and procuratorial organs in accordance with legal procedures, and pursuing criminal responsibility according to law-the confirmation stage. From the whole division of responsibilities in criminal proceedings, it is not difficult to see that the key link is the link of filing a case for investigation. On the other hand, violations of the personal rights of criminal suspects and defendants are very serious at this stage, such as interrogating criminal suspects, searching and collecting evidence. And the investigation behavior is often accompanied by coercive force and compulsory measures. This process is very easy to cause the abuse of investigation power and the occurrence of extorting confessions by torture. It is this phenomenon that human rights are easily violated in the investigation stage that determines the importance of safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of criminal suspects in the investigation stage, and also shows that the investigation stage is the most important link in the whole litigation activity. Second, the investigation stage is the key stage of obtaining and forming criminal evidence. Litigation is litigation and evidence, and all litigation is based on evidence. The facts confirmed by the court are facts proved by evidence, that is, legal facts. Only when objective facts are transformed into legal facts can judges draw conclusions according to law. All alleged facts must be supported by relevant evidence, and relevant evidence must form a chain before it can be confirmed by the court. The investigation stage is the key stage for investigation organs to discover, collect and extract fixed evidence, and the acquisition and formation of criminal evidence materials mainly comes from this stage. 3. The investigation stage is the stage that the criminal suspect needs help most psychologically. According to experts' experience in handling criminal cases, during the period of compulsory measures of detention and arrest, criminal suspects are often unable to concentrate, delirious, emotional, psychologically changed and have abnormal consciousness range. However, this period is the period when the investigation organs make full use of various means to interrogate criminal suspects, and almost all the key confessions on which criminal suspects are convicted are formed during this period. Criminal suspects are often confused, lack of basic legal knowledge, unable to identify induced confessions and fraudulent confessions, unable to concentrate on carefully consulting and correcting interrogation transcripts, and often sign in a daze. As a result, once awake, the range of consciousness returns to normal, and then trying to correct it becomes repentance. In practice, the vast majority of such "confessions" are not only futile, but also considered bad. During this period, criminal suspects need legal help and spiritual comfort most, keep calm and realistic, and cooperate with the investigation. 4. The investigation stage is the main stage of the formation of illegal evidence. Due to the long-term influence of ultra-authoritarianism, the concept of human rights protection is only reflected in limited legal provisions, and the investigation organ is still used to the concept of punishing crimes. Although there has been an essential change from "criminal" to "criminal suspect" in legal provisions, in the concept of most investigators, the two are still equated. Moreover, in the process of investigation, out of the guiding ideology of punishing crimes, investigators often only pay attention to the evidence collection of criminal suspects' guilt, while ignoring or deliberately avoiding the evidence extraction that is beneficial to them, such as innocence and light crime. No wonder unjust, false and wrong cases happen frequently. The formation of illegal evidence leading to unjust, false and wrong cases is in the investigation stage. Although the Supreme People's Court's judicial interpretation that "the witness's testimony, the victim's statement and the defendant's statement obtained by extorting a confession by torture or threatening, luring or cheating can't be used as the basis for finalizing the case" supplements the deficiency of the legal provisions, which makes the criminal procedure in China have the rule of excluding illegal evidence, but due to the defects of the system and legislation itself, the rule is not operable. The main reasons are: detention places and investigation organs (except procuratorial organs) belong to the internal organs of public security organs; In the closed and secret investigation stage, there is no mechanism to supervise and restrict the investigation organs, and the investigation activities of the investigation organs are only self-discipline; The law has no specific provisions on illegal evidence; There is no legal procedure for examining illegal evidence. Because there is no exclusionary rule of illegal evidence, the evidence obtained by illegal means in the investigation stage can enter the trial smoothly. Therefore, it can be said that the investigation stage is an important stage of the "contest" between restriction and anti-restriction. It is not difficult to understand why the limited involvement of lawyers will greatly touch the nerves of investigation agencies accustomed to super-authoritarianism! Lawyers have no reason to be discouraged and wait for the perfection of the law. They should think rationally and find the "main points" of lawyers' work in the investigation stage. In fact, lawyers intervened in time and met in time, thus restraining, restricting and supervising the investigation organs to extort confessions by torture and illegally obtain confessions. V. Make full use of lawyers' right to meet in the investigation stage According to the law, only lawyers can accept employment and enjoy the right to meet in the investigation stage. Other units, organizations, relatives and friends who are not lawyers do not enjoy this right. According to the provisions of the new Lawyers Law, lawyers can meet criminal suspects in the investigation stage without interference and supervision, that is, they can meet alone, and there should be no investigators present. Once a criminal suspect is isolated from the outside world by compulsory measures taken by the investigation organ, as a family member and relative, he will often be very anxious and ask people around him to know about the suspected criminal behavior and try to get him out early. At this time, some people often get sick and seek medical treatment, and they are cheated out of a lot of money by so-called middlemen who can "fish them out". At the same time, their spirit suffered heavy losses and their property suffered losses. In fact, at this time, according to the law, the best solution is to hire a lawyer promptly, use the lawyer's right to meet the criminal suspect quickly, and provide legal help promptly and effectively. 1, provide legal help. This is undoubtedly the most important role of lawyers. Lawyers can provide legal assistance to criminal suspects with their professional legal knowledge and rich experience in handling cases. For example, apply for bail pending trial for the parties concerned, assist the parties concerned or apply to the judicial organs to obtain evidence in favor of the criminal suspect, and put forward evidence and opinions on the suspect's innocence and light crime, and so on. Through the intervention of lawyers, we can effectively urge and supervise the judicial organs to strictly enforce the law, avoid the occurrence of misjudged cases, and protect the legitimate rights of criminal suspects to the maximum extent, which a non-professional can't do. 2. Provide psychological help to criminal suspects. Once a suspect is detained, he will be cut off from the outside world. At this point, the suspect is in a state of isolation and extreme panic and anxiety. After the intervention and interview of the defense lawyer, the suspect can feel that someone is helping him psychologically, and then through the persuasion of the lawyer, the best psychological comfort can be given to the detained suspect to help him through this anxiety period. 3. Send a message between the suspect and his family. Criminal suspects can explain some matters to their families through defense lawyers, of course, this must ensure that it has nothing to do with the case. The investigation stage is in the early stage of criminal proceedings, and its importance is self-evident. At this time, the criminal suspect has often been taken compulsory measures by the investigation organ and his personal freedom has been lost. His various lawsuits and personal rights especially need the early intervention of lawyers. If we treat suspects as patients, then lawyers are similar to doctors. Doctors can't cure every patient, and lawyers can't exonerate every suspect. The doctor's role is to relieve the patient's pain as soon as possible, and the lawyer's role is to help the suspect as much as possible within the scope prescribed by law.