A Study On The Legislation Of Criminal Witness In China

As the "Criminal Procedure Law" is revised, criminal procedure justice becomes the attention of people from all walks of life. During the learning of the new law, the author notices that although the new "Criminal Procedure Law" makes improvement in the problem of witness’s appearance in court, the legislative provisions abroad are more advanced in this area, thus worth our reference. This thesis, based on the summarization of today’s domestic legislation and the comparison with foreign countries, aims to demonstrate weaknesses of domestic legislation and give out related suggestions in the area of criminal witness’s appearance in court to testify. By doing so, the author hopes to regulate witness’s behavior from legislative respect and settle down the problem of the low rate of witness’s appearance in court.The thesis includes the following several parts:The first part is composed of three topics, including the present judicial situation where witness is unwilling to testify in court and its reasons, the necessity for witness to appear in court and at last its value.In the second part, the present legislative situation about witness’s appearance in court is introduced from three aspects, the legal definition of witness qualification, the obligation for criminal witness to appear in court and the protection measures for them in which witness compensation system and protection system are discussed.Then comes to the third part where the shortcomings of the domestic legislation make the contribution. In the aspect of legal definition of witness qualification, the defects include concepts are mixed, standards for some legal concepts are missed, clauses description are confused, etc. The defects in clauses about witness obligation include witness right and obligation are set improperly, no legal consequences are ruled when witness refuses to appear in court to testify, standards for some legal concepts are missed, etc. As for the defects in the protection measures provided for criminal witness, problems in witness compensation system as well as protection system compose the main part.In the end, suggestions in improving legislation in criminal witness’s appearance in court are made. In the problem of legal definition of witness qualification, the definitions of child witness, police witness and surveyor witness are focuses. As for witness rights, witness’s right to refuse to testify and witness immunity right are discussed combined with foreign legislative experience. In the idea of improving witness compensation system, referring to foreign countries, proposals that who is qualified to get the compensation and how and what is its range are made. When it comes to the improvement of witness protection system, based on the foreign experience, the author points out in an exploratory way that the problem of who is qualified in receiving the protection should be clarified, special witness protection agencies can be set and some other procedural rules must be improved. In addition, some related details are also discussed.