On Oral Confession

In criminal action, as criminal evidence, which is used comprehensively and economically, oral confession plays an important role in the aspects of investigating, solving a case and proving facts of crimes. However, because of the historic resource of oral confession, the phenomenon of "sole oral confession"in judicial practice and the specialty of oral confession as such, the censure aroused by oral confession is more and more. Oral confession often is regarded as the root giving rise to exacting confession by torture; the possibility of fault and the instability of oral confession make people doubt and worry about the employment of oral confession; when oral confession help realize substantive justice, it is apt to conflict with modern notions of value of action. With the employment of oral confession, "doctrine of oral confession only" and "doctrine that oral confession is harmful" are two problems coming into being easily in judicial practice. If the problems can't solve properly, it must influence the correct employment of oral confession. Therefore, some theoretic problems and methods of judicial operation about oral confession are waited to be probed further. Based on the use of all kinds of theories and systems for reference, the article integrates specific judicial practical experience, analyzes systematically, probes some problems in debate in theory and employment of oral confession and elaborates some theoretic points of view of the author and some judicial operational methods about oral confession from aspects of the conception of oral confession, the features and the functions of oral confession, the methods and statistics of obtaining oral confession, the causes of exacting confession by future, analysis and thought of "no oral confession," examination and judgment of oral confession, if the accused can be fixed crimes when there is onlyoral confession, and the conflicts of values and choice of oral confession. May the article be beneficial to the research of the theory, the practice of oral confession and the improvement of the system of oral confession.