On Protecting Of Criminal Victims' Rights

At present, how to strengthen the protection of human rights has become a major issue of common at home and abroad. With the development of criminal litigation system and intensive study of international experts and scholars in the problems related to criminal suits, most countries are gradually improving victims'status in criminal suits through legislation, which gives the victims more rights in litigation and thus enhances the protection of their human rights. In the light of comparative analysis on international criminal litigation legislation, the litigation rights of victims and defendants tend to be balanced and reciprocal on the whole.The civil law system and common law system have distinct definitions of victim for their different legal ideas and legal traditions. Moreover, the concept of victim and its scope is not specified clearly and uniformly in our Code of Criminal Procedure revised in 1996. With reference to international scholars'understanding of the concept of victim in generalized and narrow sense and in consideration of the concept and its scope from substantial and procedural criminal proceeding, the author proposes that criminal victim refer to a litigant participant starting or involved in a criminal litigation who discharges its accusation and damage claiming functions for the protection of its legal rights and interests when its personal rights, property rights or other legitimate rights are suffered by direct damages from crimes, including natural person, legal person and other organizations. And points out that the victims tend to be vulnerable groups in social life who are encroached by illegal injurious acts with objective and direct damages.There is difference in victims'litigation rights between criminal litigation legislations of adversary-system countries and inquisitorial-system countries. In China, the types of litigation rights to which victims are entitled in different stages of a criminal suit are significantly increased in comparison to the past. But it is seen from judicial practices that our criminal litigation legislation on victims'litigation rights is insufficient with many shortcomings.Victim's status in criminal suits changes from the early Penalty Executor to Crime Accuser, and then becomes an overlooked Witness. In the legislations of common-law-system countries, a victim is regarded as a witness; while in the legislations of civil-law-system countries, the victim can be a quasi litigant or quasi-civil litigant. In the counterpart of China, the victim can be a litigant without full litigation rights. Three opinions on the litigant status of victims are popular among domestic scholars:Yes, No, Yes and No.Strengthen and improve the protection of criminal victims'rights in China will facilitate to realize protection of citizen's personal rights, property rights and democratic rights specified in our Code of Criminal Procedure, improve justice in criminal litigation outcome and contribute to building harmonious socialist society in current China.In view of international judicial practices, it is feasible to strengthen and improve the protection of victims'rights in China's legislation, which will neither break down the structure of our criminal litigation nor encroach the public prosecution rights of state judicial organs and the legitimate rights and interests of defendants. In reference to foreign legislation and successful judicial practices in victims'litigation rights and with a view to current China, it is suggested that our criminal litigation legislation shall strengthen and improve criminal victims'rights in litigation from the following aspects:entitling victims to independent right of appeal against the first-instance criminal judgment, improving the litigation rights of criminal victim's agent ad litem, giving victims the rights to claim compensation for mental loss during a criminal suit attached with civil suit, to apply for legal aid as defendants do and to state their final opinions during court trial, establishing state compensation system and social security system for victims, etc.