Research On The Reform Of Criminal Expedite Procedure

Criminal expedite procedure is an important issue in the theoretical research of criminal procedure,and it is also a practical frontier issues of judicial reform in the criminal field.As early as 2018,before the Criminal Procedure Law established the criminal expedite procedure,around the construction and perfection of the criminal expedite procedure,practical field has already started a large-scale legislative experiment.Since 2014,the trial of criminal expedite procedure has been carried out in 18 cities.The trial was authorized by the National People's Congress and carried out by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate,aiming to reduce the pressure on the judicial level.In 2016 and 2017,the Interim Report on the Trial of criminal expedite procedure and the Interim Report on the Trial of Confession and Penalty respectively released by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate show that the trial of criminal expedite procedure has achieved remarkable results.However,if we study it from an overall perspective,we will find that at the legislative level,our country has not yet formed a hierarchical criminal procedure.There are some overlapping problems between the criminal expedite procedure and the summary procedure,and the setting of supporting measures is still not scientific enough.On the judicial level,there are differences in the scope of application,the way of trial,the judicial discretion,legal aid,etc.of criminal expedite procedure.The problems exposed during the pilot period,The problems exposed during the pilot period,such as inconsistent operating standards,insufficient human rights protection and unclear roles of attorney on duty,are in great demand of intensive study.Accordingly,it is the proper choice for the reform of our country's expeditious criminal arbitration system to improve the design of specific rules in the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure,entrust and guarantee the legal rights and interests of participants in litigation,and perfect relevant supporting measures.Research on the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure from the perspective of reform,firstly should clarify the scope of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure as the object of reform.Theoretically,criminal expedite procedure has a broad and narrow distinction.In a broad sense,criminal procedure refers to all expedite procedure,including summary procedure,procedure of penal order,etc.In the narrow sense,criminal procedure only refers to the sentence that the defendant may be sentenced to less than 3 years in prison,most of which are community service and fine punishment.From the factors of connotation of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure such as confession,misdemeanor and consultation,it can be seen that the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure and summary procedure,plea bargaining and the lenient system of pleading guilty and confessing punishment are not separated individuals,but a cross-integrated whole.The emergence of expeditious criminal arbitration procedure depends on the evolution of criminal litigation procedures.It is a new type of summary procedure in the process of the criminal litigation procedures development towards scientific and refined direction.The changes of the litigation value,penalty aim,legal pragmatism and right-based doctrine provide theoretical support for the construction of expeditious criminal arbitration procedure in various countries.The reform of the expedited criminal procedure requires a comprehensive understanding of its basic theory,value objectives,and reform background,so as to ensure the legitimacy and justification of the during the whole reform process.Controlling crime is one of the purposes of criminal law.The reasonable application of expedited criminal procedure can encourage the prosecuted person to choose to confess,which makes the crime more controllable.The expedited criminal procedure is based on the pleading guilty of the prosecuted person.The judge will give preferential treatment on the sentencing,so that he can be freed from the accusation as soon as possible,effectively avoiding the long-term disconnection between the accused person and the society.The legal basis of criminal expedite procedure includes the diversity of procedure,the connotation of doctrine of prosecution,and core adversary system.Under the influence of economic rationality,only by paying attention to the pragmatic value and efficiency value of law can we deal with complicated and diverse criminal cases.To deal with different criminal cases,we should set up legal procedures corresponding to their importance and complexity.Criminal expedite procedure is not only the actual demand for handling minor crime cases and the inevitable connotation of the law of judicial power operation,but also the objective requirement for criminal justice concepts to be updated and the inevitable reflection of the adjustment of criminal procedure structure.After clarifying the concept,characteristics and basic principles of expeditious criminal arbitration procedure,only with the combination of theory and practice can an effective analysis of the existing legislative practice of expeditious criminal arbitration procedure be made.Although in our country,the promotion of expeditious criminal arbitration procedure to the efficiency of criminal procedure has been proved by more than three years of pilot projects and has been incorporated into the norms of the Criminal Procedure Law,it is still a brand-new attempt at the legislative level.Therefore,it is necessary to learn and draw lessons from the advanced and mature legal rules outside our country,so as to better improve our country's expeditious criminal arbitration procedure as well as enhance the legislative ability in the normative aspects of expeditious criminal arbitration procedure.Based on this way,By selecting the typical foreign countries such as the United States,,Britain of the common law system and Germany,Japan,Italy and France of the continental law system,and taking the generalization of the characteristics of different criminal procedural norms of different law systems and different countries as the entry point,the chapter introduces and analyzes the main provisions on the simplified handling of minor criminal cases in the criminal procedural systems of the above countries.Then,from the four aspects of the application,construction,selection and relief of this kind of system,on the basis of comparing and summarizing the normative methods of different countries,the chapter sums up the legislative enlightenment that can be continuously improved and referenced by China's criminal expedite procedure.In the process of the establishment of different legal systems,the relevant experience of foreign countries is undoubtedly of reference significance,but in order to truly play its positive role in China's specific procedures,it is necessary to have a clear understanding of this procedure as the premise.As far as China is concerned,the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure is not a new import,but has always been an organic part of the expeditious trial system of minor offenses.starting with the legislation on the rapid handling of minor cases in modern China,combining with the expedite procedure established in the early days of the founding of New China,the criminal summary procedure established in the Criminal Procedure Law of 1996,the criminal conciliation proceedings introduced in the Criminal Procedure Law of 2012,and the working opinions or methods related to the expedite procedure in recent years.In 2014,China's expeditious criminal arbitration procedure was carried out in 18 provinces and municipalities for a two-year pilot work.In the pilot areas,eligible suspects are free to choose whether to apply the criminal summary procedure or not.In 2016,the pilot reform of lenient confession of guilt and punishment has expanded the scope of application of expeditious criminal arbitration procedure.On October 26,2018,the new amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law was formally adopted,and the " Expeditious Criminal Arbitration Procedure" was incorporated into the legislative system in the form of a special section.The related systems of lenient confession of guilt and leniency of punishment and on-duty lawyers are also reflected in the amended Criminal Procedure Law.Empirical study of law is more important than doctrinal study of law,which can help us grasp the legal norms and their implementation more comprehensively and accurately.The implementation of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure in the pilot areas has played a positive role in saving judicial resources and improving the efficiency of litigation,effectively alleviating the pressure of judicial proceedings in criminal cases,and creating a good path for the expeditious trial of criminal cases.Especially when the scope of application of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure has expanded from "fixed-term imprisonment less than one year" to "fixed-term imprisonment less than three years",its diversion function of dealing with minor offenses has increased rapidly,which is more in line with the needs of the expansion of the criminal justice circle,and has also been improved and developed locally in the pilot areas.Nevertheless,on the other hand,there are still some conservative applications and insufficient implementation in some areas,and there is still some room for improvement in the application rate.More importantly,the inconsistency of the standard of sentencing reduction and the insufficiency of the defendant's litigation rights and interests protection make the scientific and legitimacy of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure impossible to be fully implemented,which brings new problems and opportunities for the reform of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure.As one of the most important ways of expeditious trial for minor offenses in the world today,the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure has shown its irreplaceable advantages in other countries and ours'.If the function of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure cannot be manifested,it will be difficult to realize the simplicity and diversion of criminal cases,and the grand reform goal of "trial-centered" will not be achieved.To improve the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure in our country,firstly,we should design the systematic standard of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure from the case and main body level on the basis of defining the basic principles and functional orientation of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure.Secondly,from the four aspects of refining the applicable conditions of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure,adding the written trial method of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure,perfecting the proof standard of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure and optimizing the process management of the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure,we can formulate the concrete reform plan of it in our country.Finally,the effective system of expeditious criminal arbitration procedure should be systematized,therefore,the improvement of supporting measures is indispensable.A series of supporting measures related to the expeditious criminal arbitration procedure,such as pretrial plea mechanism,sentencing concession mechanism,duty lawyer system and community correction mechanism,need to be further improved.