Study Of Written Testimony In Criminal Proceedings

The 1996 version of PRC Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) made some big changes, among which the most significant is the reform of hearing rules. Absorbing from plaintiff and defendant-centered tradition of Anglo-American law, more emphasis has been put on the roles of the parties in confrontation in court. However, in the legal practice after the adoption of new hearing frame, the most predominant and difficult problem is the availability of witness.To be in the personal presence of the trier of fact, witnesses shall be subject to cross-examination, exit in the process, the perception, recollection, narration capacity of the declarant and other subjective or objective factors will be helpful to tell the credibility of the assertion of each party. But the low rate of witnesses' personal presence in court is far from ideal for the application of the new hearing method. And written evidence without the presence of the provider in court becomes normal. The efficiency of the hearing has been affectedTo seek the truth efficiently and effectively, may consider the experience from Anglo-American system, e.g. to safeguard the due process and confrontation, to establish reasonable hearsay rule which excludes hearsay but subject to numerous exceptions under circumstances supposed to furnish guarantees of trustworthiness.Trying to answer the questions hereof, there are five parts in the dissertation.Part 1 compares the two sides between written testimony and oral evidence. The credit side of written testimony is that the memory would be fresh when recording the statement with little improper influence. The flip side is that hearsay is hard to be testified by the opponents.Part 2 introduces the hearsay rule in Anglo-American law, its development, analyzes the logic, considers the possibility to learn from it The author views that the doctrine of oral evidence may be the key point leading to a solution, considering the necessary links among the features of oral, direct and collective of the procedure. Written evidence as hearsay shall be an exception under strict standards.