Research On Character Evidence Rule Of Criminal Defendants

Character evidences of defendants are evidences that can reflect defendants’ character features. Logically speaking, people can make judgement of actors’ character by analyzing their past lives, and thus making inference of character to predict their possible behaviors. Generally, character evidence can be classified into two parts:good character evidence and bad character evidence. Rules of character evidence of the accused is refers to from the statutory provisions shall not in bad character of the defendant to prove the defendant is accused of the crime implementationIn essence, the relevance of evidence is a question of fact. It refers to the logic connection between evidence and case facts, and usually people would judge it by using their experience and basing on common sense. Therefore, it can be seen that relevance is a combination of materiality and probativeness. Character evidence has too many negative factors. When it is adopted as the evidence, the relevance will usually not be taken into consideration. This balance is made by legislators after considering both the probative value and adverse effects the character evidence itself has. The dominant factor that determines the admissibility of evidence is whether it has the qualification to undergo cross-examination in court. The relevance is a preliminary requirement that the evidence should have before it is admitted. Therefore, admissible evidence is undoubtedly relevant, but that does not mean relevant evidence must be admissible. Generally speaking, the use of good character evidences is unlimited. And except for some special cases, the bad character evidence will not be admitted in principle.At present, China has no specific legislation for character evidence. But in practice, character evidences are continuously being adopted in court, so it is necessary to establish character evidence rules of the accused to make proper use of character evidences. Specifically, China should make legislation to establish general rules for the use of defendants’ character evidence. In principle, bad character evidences of defendants will not be admitted at conviction stage, but the rules also allow some exceptions. Defendants are encouraged and supported to defend by presenting their good character evidences. On the other hand, the use of character evidences will not be limited at sentencing stage.