On Fulfillment Of Criminal Witness Duty And Right In China

The witness in a criminal lawsuit is more often than not the third party who comprehends the case and plays a significant role in it. Unable to be replaced by others, his testimony there in becomes unchangeable and cannot be ignored. The witness presenting his evidence constitutes a critic and necessary part of the lawsuit. However, the current situation seems grim as far as judicial practice is concerned. The witness lacks enthusiasm in taking part in the lawsuit, refuses to present evidence or fears to. Even in some cases, the witness offers false evidences on purpose. All the manifestation has hindered the operation of criminal lawsuit. The reasons can actually be attributed to these: on one hand, the witness's duty can not be fulfilled; on the other hand, their deserving rights are not protected. In order to fully make use of the witness in a lawsuit; it has become critic to strengthen the relative rights and to define the duty and responsibility. This article is to explore the rights the witness should be entitled and the duties he should be regulated, from the angle of the dialectical relationship between right and duty. In doing so, the article is to analyze all the possible reasons and measures, and to make some proposals for the future making of witness law.The whole article falls into four parts. The first part is surely introduction, which briefly summarizes the witness's importance in a criminal lawsuit. In the second part, the article deals with all the rights a witness should deserve in a lawsuit. It points out the rights that should be entitled and protected are those affected out of the witness presentation. A part from the analysis on our under development in protecting the witness's rights, it offers the legislative framing for accomplishing the witness's rights in China with a reference to the successful legislation in western countries. The following third part explicates all the duties the witness should perform, namely accepting investigation, present in court to testify and offering the truth, The law to be made should define the witness's duty to cooperate with the pleading jurist; it should complete the regulation of witness's present in court, with come punishment for those who refuse to appear; and it should sober the law net so as to crackdown false testimony. The cast part proposes for the legislation. It urges the legislative body to promptly enact a law or regulation on witness's verification and construct a scientific mechanism of criminal witness's verification.