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A Study Of Presumption Of Innocence From The Perspective Of Guarantee Of Human Rights

Posted on:2016-07-07Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:L MaFull Text:PDF
GTID:2296330461984108Subject:Law
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
As the bourgeois revolution promoted, presumption of innocence developed. During the 200 years since was put forward by Beccaria in 1764, presumption of innocence has been admitted by many countries around the world, besides it has been playing an irreplaceable role in guarantee of human rights. So what is the presumption of innocence? In International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, it was defined as everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has all the guarantees necessary for his defense. As for this, it differs among countries as well as scholars.Chapter one analyzes arguments among scholars towards the definition of presumption of innocence systematically, finds out their common points and illustrates them. Then several rules derived from presumption of innocence are introduced, including the accusing party bearing the burden of proof, the right of silence and assuming disputed crimes innocence, etc, thus enrich the theory of presumption of innocence. Besides, from just an idea to a principle of legislation and judicature in many countries, the presumption of innocence is sure to possess its unique value. So next the value of it is illustrated, such as its value to the guarantee of human rights and to penal action.Chapter two introduces the different developments and stipulations of presumption of innocence in the Anglo-American law system and the Civil law system. In the Anglo-American law system, there is no description about presumption of innocence, but there is stipulation about due process of law, and this shares many similarities with the presumption of innocence in guarantee of human rights. Therefore, among the Anglo-American law system countries, this paper selects Britain and America, and illustrates their rules about presumption of innocence embodied in law and legal precedents, for example the right to silence, respectively. While among countries under the Civil law system, France and Russia are selected, which put the presumption of innocence into legislation and practice and observe it. To introduce the foreign legal rules is to pave the way for China to set the presumption of innocence.Chapter three introduces the current legislation situation and deficiency of Chinese law according to the new Code of criminal procedure and finds some matters. Taking the illegal proof for example, the rules about excluding testimony in law are not accurate enough that some testimony collected by illegal ways has not been excluded in practice. What’s more, while the law stresses that the right of conviction is possessed by court, it endows procuratorate decision-making power not to prosecute if it thinks the circumstance of the crime is minor. Obviously, these two are contradictory.Chapter four comes back to the purpose of this paper, and put up with several advice to improve the system of presumption of innocence in China form different dimensions, for example, to add the presumption of innocence into constitution and law of criminal procedure and to improve the exclusion of illegal proof. Finally, as the writer, I hope the above study can do some good for the legal construction and judicial fairness of our country.
Keywords/Search Tags:criminal procedure, guarantee of human rights, presumption of innocence, perfection
PDF Full Text Request
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