Change And Construction Of The Interrogation System

The ancient accusatorial model in the criminal procedure is characteristic of the equal status of the plaintiff and the defendant who take the predominant position in the trial procedure in which the public organ is not entitled to the prosecution. With the establishment of feudalism, the inquisitorial model takes the place of the accusatorial model. Since then, the judge has enjoyed the power of trial and investigation and the criminal suspect has been subjected to the judge, without any procedural rights in the criminal proceedings.With the purpose of the discovery of objective facts, the traditional European countries stressed the legal stipulations and the confidence in the judge in the criminal procedure. As regards the investigation procedure, the importance of the confession was greatly attached and therefore the criminal suspect was subjected to the interrogation. In the traditional Anglo-American Countries, considering the due process, the power of investigation exercised by the police was restricted while the suspect had lots of defense rights, such as the right to silence and the right to lawyer. Thus, it was unrealistic to actively obtain and keep evidence by interrogation in the investigation procedure.The modern interrogation system has been based on the due process through which the correct results may be gotten. With the development of the principle that any one shall not be forced to make self-incrimination, the suspects bear no obligation to help the police in the ascertainment of the truth and are entitled to theright to choose, that is, they may keep silent, make confession or defend himself in the investigation procedure on their own will. Despite the value of the suspects' confession for which the interrogation system has been accepted in the legislation, the due process results in the recognition of the suspect orientated procedural model.The current countries are shortening the gap among their criminal procedures and integrating their domestic legal systems into the international legal standards approved by the U. N. It has been manifested that the right to lawyer and the right to silence have been accepted to some extent in the traditional civil law countries. Similarly, the Anglo-American countries not only stringently restrict the improper interrogation ways and review the suspects' willingness with regard to their confessions, but also adopt the principle of exclusion of illegally obtained confessions The revised Criminal Procedure Law in China has adopted some essential international legal principles, such as the lawyer's participation in the investigation and the review of compulsive measures by the prosecution organ. Under the newly amended Chinese Constitution, the rule by law has been established. As China has gained accession to the WTO, the economic globalization is likely to contribute to the integration of law to some degree. Under the global circumstance, it is of great necessity to bring in some basic interrogation systems to match up to the trend of the protection of freedom, democracy and human rights. Considering the interrogation systems in the countries mentioned above, a rational criminal interrogation system safeguarded by a series of relevant principles and systems should be adopted and established, which have been proved to be beneficial and effective in the achievement of the rule by law.