The Research Into Standards Of Effective Assistance Of Counsel

The low quality of defense sees the necessity to research into the topic------standards of effective assistance of counsel.Effective means producing the result that is intended.Effective assistance of counsel is the defense which meets expectations.The standards are used to assess whether the defense meets expectations and to make demands on the defense.Therefore,we must answer the question of what is expected in the standards.Expectations regarding the defense are as follows.Firstly,produce the results in favor of the prosecuted.Secondly,protect the legal rights of the prosecuted.The former focuses on the results,while the latter focuses on the process.They provide two perspectives to research on effective defense standards—the process and the result.The research aims at standardizing the defense behavior and improving the quality of defense,so the author chooses to construct the standards from the perspective of the process.Based on the learnings from behavioral factors and behavioral psychology,the author claims that the standards should be constructed out of three elements: the subject,behavioral tendency and behavioral performance.From the perspective of the subject,set up different limitations of year regarding independent practice of criminal defense based on defenders’ different academic background and major.From the perspective of behavior tendency,the defender is required to stand firmly in the position of the prosecuted and to confront the prosecution according to law.From the perspective of performance,the prosecuted should be interviewed by the defender more than twice in order to fully understand the case before the trial;the defender should read the files to understand what the prosecution know about the case,so as to find weaknesses;evidence should be investigated to prove the defender’s point of view.During the trial,the defender should try to provide materials,put forward propositions that are beneficial to the prosecuted,and try to raise reasonable doubts.While making the above requirements for the defense,it also proposes a method of judging whether the defense meets the requirements of the standards.Theory both origins from and returns to practice,so the destination of the standards is institutionalization,which mainly starts from the following aspects.Firstly,reform the qualifications of the defenders,establish lawyer-monopoly-defense system and the defender classification system.Secondly,strengthen obligations of defenders with the amendment of the relevant articles of the Criminal Procedure Law.Thirdly,establish safeguard mechanism,including refereeing,punishment and relief mechanism.