On The Application Of Character Evidence In Juvenile Justice Cases

Character evidence,the testimony or document submitted for the purpose of proving that a person acted in a particular way on a particular occasion based on the character or disposition of that person,is widely used in the common law of evidence in common law countries.At present,there is no explicit provision on character evidence in Chinese law,but the applying of character evidence,which is of great significance in judging the dangerousness of person and harmfulness of society,is not uncommon in judicial practice.The use of character evidence can achieve the protection of the legitimate interests of minors,it can also achieve goals of educating and saving the minors.This article intends to explore the value and significance of the introduction of juvenile character evidence in juvenile justice by referring to the relevant provisions of extraterritorial evidence and the related characteristics of character evidence.Through analyzing of the status of the use of juvenile character evidence in China,suggestions are made on how to improve the utilization of juvenile character in China and protect the legal rights and interests of minors in China.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,this paper mainly includes four parts:The first chapter is "the concept and classification of character evidence".This chapter outlines the different concepts of character evidence in common law and civil law,also point out the classification of character evidence.The second chapter is "why character evidence can be used as evidence and the significance of introducing character evidence into juvenile justice." This chapter includes the use of character evidence as evidence should conform to the relevance and legitimacy requirements of evidence and its implications for juvenile justice in two aspects.The third chapter is "the status quo of the application of juvenile character evidence in our country".This chapter analyzes the use of character evidence from the four stages of judicial practice,namely,investigation,prosecution,court and penalty.The fourth chapter is "perfecting the character evidence of minor in our country".This chapter begins with the shortcomings of the use of character evidence in our country at the present stage.It discusses perfecting the evidence of character from three aspects:perfecting the conception and applicable rules of the juvenile character evidence,perfecting evidence collection,perfecting the use of character evidence in penalty execution.