An Empirical Study On The Defense Of Death Penalty Cases

The death penalty defense should not only "have defense",but also "effective defense".Effective defence is the essential content of guaranteeing the defendant's right to defence in death penalty cases.The quality of the death penalty defense plays a decisive role in the deprivation of the defendant's life.Therefore,it is necessary to pay attention to the quality of death penalty defense and the effectiveness of death penalty defense.This paper conduct empirical research on the death penalty defense on the basis of over 10,000 written judgments for death penalty,that based on the "defense quality" as a center,the "defense reasons" and "legal aid" as two entry points to seek ways to improve the quality of the defense of death penalty cases and put forward ideas to strengthen the effectiveness of the defense of death penalty.The paper has 5 chapters,with the main contents including the current situation of the death penalty defense,main problems existing in the death penalty defense,causes of the problems in the death penalty defense and paths to achieve the effective death penalty defense.According to a review of the history of reforms on the death penalty defense,a series of normative documents have been continuously introduced,which to some extent,has strengthened the guarantee for the death penalty defense.According to an empirical observation of the current situation of the death penalty defense,the mandatory defense in the first-instance procedure has been basically implemented,and the coverage of the legal aid defense in the second-instance procedure and the review procedure has been gradually enlarged,which reflects the progressive aspects of today's death penalty defense.However,in-depth investigations of the death penalty defense quality show that the effect of the death penalty defense is worrying.In the current death penalty defense,problems,such as the poor effect of the legal aid defense for the death penalty,the singleness of the defense reason and mode,the low enthusiasm of the defense counsels and the judge's insufficient attention to defense opinions,have seriously restricted the quality and effect of the death penalty defense in China.To solve these problems,it is essential to strengthen the assigned defense guarantee mechanism,and provide both public and social legal aid.While establishing a death penalty defense access system,conducting performance management for the defense payment and improving the quality of defense opinions,work should be done to guide the judge to treat the defense opinions seriously and analyze paths to achieve the effective defense of the death penalty from a practical perspective.