Analysis Of The Simplification Of Criminal Common Procedure

The burden of huge numbers of cases and the desire for optimizing judicialresources and lawsuit efficiency have led the first "reforming experiment" with theuse of simplified trial of the common procedure on the latter half of 1999 by BeijingHaidian District procuratorate and Beijing Haidian District Court .After that it wasfollowed by other procuratorates and courts .On March 14,2003, it showed that thispractice had been legalized when the "Certain suggestions on the application ofcommon procedure on the cases that the accused has committed his crime" had beenon effect by the Supreme People's procuratorate, the Supreme People's Court and theDepartment of Justice. While this regulation have shown its problems on the range ofapplication and how to simplify and how to sentence and so on .This article is about to analyse its arising backgrounds and practical operationsof this regulation ,combined with author's working experiences and argue that thisregulation is against the principle of procedure law .As the first trial of theprocedure law has only be tried either by common procedure or by simple procedure,no the other third within them.Although this regulation has its advantages from the view of economy andefficiency ,it is not likely to guarantee impartial procedure and to protect humanrights much well when the efficiency is put the first .Furthermore ,the criminal common procedure in China is not so complex as notto be born. Rare witnesses and expert witnesses appeared on courts and so did thesolicitors. And the bulk of cases were not sentenced on trial.Therefore the judicial reform in China should improve our criminal trialprocedure .Considering its lower using rate compared with those abroad, the simpleprocedures improvement should be emphasized. It is suggested that the defendantsshould be entitled with rights of choosing procedures and the commuting sentencesbe set as an encouragement and regulations on the rights of defend in simpleprocedure be guaranteed .Also the pre-trial discovery motion practice should be set inorder to avoid the delay and disorder of trial so as to reduce the waste of judicialresources and improve the abilities of the staff who work in the judicial fields.