The Construction Of Criminal Cross-examination System In China

In recent years,"the reform of the criminal procedure system centered on trial" is being carried out in full swing.The reform clearly aims to promote the "Making the Trial Process Substantialized",which requires the full implementation of the "Direct Speech Principle",and ensure that witnesses and experts will be questioned by both parties in court,and gradually get rid of the habit of investigating evidence in the written testimony.I believe that the reform and improvement of criminal cross-examination system in China is facing important opportunities,and the academia and practitioners should pay enough attention to it.I will start from the legislative and judicial status of the cross-examination system in China,then focus on analyzing its difficulties and causes,and finally give some suggestions for building a reasonable cross-examination system in our country by learning the useful experiences of others.This paper includes four parts:The first chapter mainly introduces the current situation of cross-examination system in China.The Criminal Procedure Law revised in 1996 had set up a basic framework for the criminal cross-examination system in China,and laid the foundation for further reform and improvement of the criminal cross-examination system in China.In the judicial practice,the cross-examination hasn't played a great role in the process of criminal trial in China,because the defendants often don't have opportunities to face the witnesses which against them.Although some examinations were carried out,they can not really play its role in identifying the facts of the case and protecting the rights of the accused,due to various reasons.In general,although the cross-examination system has been introduced to China for more than 20 years,there are still many problems both in legislation and in judicial practice.Therefore,under the background of "Trial Centered Reform",it is of great practical significance to improve the cross-examination system in China.The second chapter mainly introduces the predicaments and causes of the cross-examination system in China.From the author's point of view,China's criminal cross-examination system currently faces two major predicaments.One is that it is greatly questioned in the discovery of facts,and the second is that a high-quality cross examination is difficult to achieve in our trials.The formation of the two major predicaments are caused by multiple factors.In this paper,I will makes a brief analysis from four angles,including the influence of the litigation philosophy,the unclear procedural elements,the incomplete supporting systems and the consideration of the efficiency of litigation.The third chapter mainly introduces the reference to extraterritorial cross-examination systems.As an special evidence investigation system,the"cross-examination" in the modern sense was first established in the United Kingdom.It was further developed in the United States,and gradually established a set of elaborate rules to ensure that the cross-examination performed efficiently.After the second World War,the civil law countries,represented by Germany and Japan,began to reflect on the shortcomings of the Judge questioning system,and established the cross-examination systems with their own characteristics through targeted judicial reform.In addition,when the "Criminal Procedure Law" was amended in 2003 in Taiwan area,it also made an important supplement to the construction of its cross-examination rules.The cross-examination system in Anglo American legal system is usually called "typical cross examination system".It emphasizes that the investigation procedure for testimony is advanced by the parties,that is,the prosecution and the defense lead the questioning to witnesses,and judges are generally less involved.Later,when civil law countries or regions introduced the court investigation system with the characteristic of adversary,they mostly adopted the "hybrid cross-examination mode" which combining "Judge questioning" and"party questioning" in order to meet the needs of localization.The fourth chapter mainly introduces some suggestions for constructing China's cross-examination system.To build a reasonable cross-examination system in China,we must proceed from the actual situation of our country.Based on the problems in China's legislation and judicial practice,we can find effective ways to reform andimprove our cross-examination system by learning the mature experiences of the other countries and regions.I will put forward my suggestions on the reasonable construction of the criminal cross-examination system in China from three aspects:the selection of cross-examination system models,the clarification of the procedural elements of cross-examination and the establishment and improvement of related supporting measures.