An Empirical Study On The Separate Trial Of Juvenile Criminal Cases

The separate trial of juvenile criminal cases is one of the important procedures to realize the protection of juvenile defendants at the trial stage.By separating the juvenile defendant's part of the joint crime case from the adult defendant's part,the procedure can help the juvenile delinquents to be better.At present,scholars in the theoretical and in the practical are in favor of the separate trial of juvenile criminal cases.But due to the lack of regulations,there are many problems in the practice.When will the joint crimes of minors and adults be separated or merged? The case is tried by the juvenile court and the criminal court separately,or by the juvenile court only? How to realize the consistency of fact finding,law application and sentencing? These are the problems that need to be solved urgently,but scholars hold different views.Therefore,it is of certain theoretical and practical significance to conduct empirical researches on the separate trial of juvenile criminal cases.This paper uses normative research,empirical research and other methods to sort out the provisions of the juvenile criminal case division trial system.The paper also investigates and analyzes the judicial practice,with a view to improving the juvenile criminal case division trial system in China.This paper is divided into four parts:The first part sorts out the legal provisions of the separate trial and evaluates them.In terms of legislation,it has five aspects: the use frequency,the standards,the organizations,the re-combination and the communication of the separate trial.In terms of legislative evaluation,affirming the legislative progress of the separate trial first,and then pointing out the deficiencies.It lacks systematic and clarity provisions,higher level laws,effective communication between judicial departments,good connection with the existing systems and it only emphasizes on the protection of juvenile defendants.The second part examines the operation of the separate trial in judicial practice.It has three sections,including overall situation,separate practice and trial practice.In the aspect of overall situation,it explains the numbers and types of cases that the juvenile court accepted.In the aspect of practice,it explains the division and combination of the cases,the reasons for division,the application of division standards,and the selection of trial organizations.In terms of trial practice,it describes the communication and coordination between trial organizations,the trial,the trial of protest and appeal cases,and the reception of case files.The third part summarizes the problems reflected in the practice.In separate practice,there are some problems such as lack of impartiality in the procedure,unclear standards and improper selection of trial organizations.In trial practice,there are some problems such as insufficient communication and coordination,difficulties in cross-examination in court of accomplices,the limited function of juvenile court,poor fact finding,and waste of judicial resources.The causes are analyzed from four aspects: the influence of authoritarianism,legislative defects in separate trial,unreasonable performance appraisal and subjective factors.The fourth part,aiming at the problems reflected in the judicial practice and their causes,puts forward some suggestions to improve the separate trial of juvenile criminal cases in China,including establishing the principles of separate trial,perfecting the separate system,perfecting the trial system and perfecting the supporting system.First of all,to establish the principles,it needs to insist on the principle of the best interests of minors and the principle of the restrictive protection of minors.Secondly,to perfect the separate system,it is necessary to clarify the division standards,unify the trial organizations,grant the defendant the right to know and the right to objection to the procedure,and establish the procedure of the transformation from division to combination.In addition,to improve the trial system,we should build a stable way of communication and coordination,as well as ensure the co-conspirators to testify in court.Finally,to perfect the supporting system,it has to promote the specialization of juvenile court from the aspects of personnel allocation and performance appraisal of juvenile court,and at the same time,it also has to promote the connection of judicial departments.