Research On Chinese Criminal Detention System From The Humanism Perspective

It has been a prevalent judicial practice in China to detain criminal suspects and defendants whenever possible and as long as possible, which is also deemed appropriate by the investigation officers. There is a lack of humanism respect and care for criminal suspects and defendants as equal participants in criminal procedures. They are only regarded as subjects of compulsory measures and dictatorship. The criminal detention system created under such a notion has caused various problems. As the importance of rule of law and protection of human rights become more and more widely recognized, the author suggests that humanism shall become the beacon in formulating our criminal detention system, even the system of compulsory measures as a whole, so that suspects and defendants, as human beings that form part of our society, can be treated with sufficient respect and care.It has been a persistent notion embedded in China's history that those who execute the laws can exercise their power unlimitedly, good students shall aim at becoming governmental officials, and governmental officials are the"parents"of other citizens. Such a notion is reflected in criminal judicial practice: law executors abuse their powers, arbitrarily broaden the application of laws, ignore and temper with the rights of criminal suspects and defendants. It is of human nature that they also wish to be respected and enjoy their lawful rights. The power-oriented notion has overstressed the penalty function while overlooked the protection function of criminal prosecution, and consequently, the basic rights of those prosecuted are endangered and the humanism spirit is sacrificed.The author proposes to formulate the criminal detention system from the perspective of humanism as an innovative way to promote human right protection, to safeguard the value and destiny of human beings, and to respect the rights of criminal suspects and defendants in the enforcement of criminal compulsory measures.The main body of the thesis is divided into four parts. Firstly, it answers the definition, essence, and characteristics of humanism. It also sets forth the relationship between humanism and rule of law, humanism and criminal litigation, and humanism and due process. It is concluded that humanism shall become the beacon in formulating China's criminal detention system.The second part starts with the Yao Chengong's case, and points out the problems with the existing detention system, which include the inborn system defects, as well as the problems in practice, such as confidentiality of the detention decision, the arbitrariness in extending the detention term, and the lack of neutrality of decision-makers. The author probes the reasons that have caused those problems, and concludes that there are both conceptional and institutional reasons, the former like presumed guiltiness, and the latter like absence of alternative measures.The third part is a comparative research of corresponding foreign systems. German, US, British and Japanese systems are studied in particular. The author holds the opinion that the nature of detention and judicial review mechanism in foreign systems can be introduced into China. Part four answers the questions raised in part two of the thesis, and the author recommends that the criminal detention system shall be formulated on the basis of the humanism principle, the due process principle, and the principle of proportionality.