Establishing The Right To Silence Suitable To Chinese Realities

The task to build a socialist country of law with Chinese characteristics is upon ushistorically. The blueprint for an adequate legal system is unfolded in modern China. In thishistorical background, the revision of criminal procedure law, which is aimed at keepingpace with the times, promotes the judicial system of China. With the progress of ruling thecountry by law, the awareness of human rights has been improved, and the public voice onhuman rights is urgent and eager. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure the human rights in theimprovement of legislation. Also, the relevant systems and rules should be worked out inorder to materialize the respect and ensuring of human rights.The right to silence is an important lawsuit right for the suspects and defendants. Overthe past century, the right to silent is constantly being improved, perfected, and practiced. Ithas been an important content of the criminal lawsuit in many countries in the world, and hasbeen accepted by international documents. Although the right to silence has not been writteninto the criminal procedure law of China, the idea of ensuring human rights is fully reflectedin a number of rules, such as elimination of illegal evidences, and forbidding ofself-incrimination, which indicate that the right to silence has been absorbed into the legalsystem. As the perfection of the judicial reform of China, the establishment of the right tosilence is an irresistible trend for the country of law. On the basis of fundamental realities ofChina, this thesis is aimed to elucidate in five parts how to build a rational right to silence forChina, how to practice the right to silence with the help of relevant rules, and to fullydevelop the value in ensuring the human rights.Part I: The overview of the right to silence. It is introduced in three aspects, which arethe fundamental concept and the theoretical basis, the history of generation and development,and the merits in the criminal procedure lawsuit.Part II: the investigation on the status quo of the right to silence in China. The currentcriminal procedure law and the relevant rules are studied, and the laws which agree with orcontradict the right to silence are found.Part III: the analysis of the impediments in establishing the right to silence in China. The reason of the impediments are: i) the influence of traditional culture, ii) the legal factorof criminal procedure lawsuit, and iii) the lack of system for human rights and the conflictbetween the traditional criminal law and the legal environmental for the right to silence.Part IV: the analysis of feasibility and necessity of the right to silence in China. It isaimed at answering the question of whether it is necessary and whether it is possible toestablish the right to silence in China.Part V: the design of right to silence suitable to the realities of China. First, the criterionand principle are introduced; Secondly, the specific design of practicing the right to silence isworked out in the investigation, prosecution, and trial; At last, the relevant rules arediscussed and designed.