The Study On The Rights Of Defense Attorneys In Criminal Litigation

The status and rights of the criminal suspect and the accused in the criminal litigation symbolize the civilization of a nation’s justice system.To maintain and protect the legal rights of the accused is an important aspect to promote the development of the criminal proceedings, during which defense attorneys play an irreplaceable role. Those countries that have made leading progresses in the criminal proceedings attach great importance to the defense attorneys, not only giving them the litigious rights to appeal against the prosecutor side, but also providing them with the procedural relief. China has also made a series of stipulations in Law of Criminal Procedure and Law of Lawyers to grant defense lawyers litigious rights, thus establishing the institution on protecting defense lawyers’entitled litigious rights. However, in actual cases, the litigious rights of the defense lawyers in China are interfered, who can’t fully play their role in the criminal proceedings, so procuratorial organs and people’s courts fail to listen to lawyers’defense, which lead to some notorious unjust and misjudged cases in recent years. The paper focuses on analyzing major problems of current institutions on protecting defense lawyers’rights in China, by taking references of the two major law systems in the world (represented by France and Germany & represented by Britain and America) as well as the relevant laws and practices of international organizations, thus providing suggestions to improve China’s institution on protecting defense lawyers’litigious rights.Apart from introduction and conclusion, the paper consists of four chapters.The first chapter introduces the theories of values. Defense attorneys’litigious rights contribute greatly in checking the power of investigation, the right of action, and the juridical authority in the criminal proceedings for the promotion of justice as well as in protecting the entitled rights of the criminal suspect and defendant.The second chapter is about the institutions on protecting defense attorneys’ litigious rights in foreign countries. The related law system of Britain and America and the continental law systems as well as relevant international conventions are introduced, based on which suggestions will be given for China’s institutions.The third chapter discusses why China is unable to protect defense attorneys’rights in an efficient way, based on the analysis of laws and rules on the protection of defense attorneys in China. It relates from theoretical aspect, national responsibility, consequences and relief systems.The fourth chapter talks about how to make litigious rights of defense attorneys work better in China. The institutional guarantee of defense attorneys should be revised form the following aspects:the expansion of defense attorneys’litigious rights; intensify the responsibility of protecting defense attorneys’litigious rights on the part of public security organs, procuratorial organs and people’s court; specify the legal consequences of violating defense lawyers’litigious rights.