| Duty lawyer is a kind of lawyers which refers to the guarantee of state financial contributions,with legal aid agencies as the main organ of appointment,setting up regular offices in people's courts,detention centers,and other places.Duty lawyers won't choose their applicants' property status and the cases' types,and the service is provided for free.Duty lawyer system is a legal security relief system in which the duty lawyers provide legal services to people in need of legal assistance free of charge and without any additional conditions.The implementation of the duty lawyer system is of great significance to improving China's legal aid system,ensuring the voluntariness and the authenticity of the confession,human rights,and judicial justice.Regarding the implementation of the duty lawyer system,China adopts a “pilot system” of experimental reforms,accumulating certain experiences and discovering certain problems through the implementation of early trials in Henan,Shandong,Shanghai and other places,and then implementing the duty lawyer system nationwide.The advantage of this implementation method is that it can fully mobilize the local reform enthusiasm,give local governments the possibility and space for system and policy innovation,and avoid national and large social risks,and ensure the overall social stability of the country.However,the current construction of a country under the rule of law emphasizes effective top-level design,which requires clear planning for reform goals,reform subjects,reform plans,reform content,and reform procedures.Reforms without a top-level design can easily lose the way forward,unfortunately,duty lawyer system is such a system.Duty lawyer system is an imported product that originated in the United Kingdom.It has formed a relatively complete system in Britain,Canada and some other countries.We can learn from their experience to improve our own system.Judging from the experience of Britain,Canada,Japan and other countries,duty lawyer system is either part of the legal aid system,or the protection and reflection of the constitutional rights of citizens,or a one-time volunteer for the purpose of soliciting cases,but their system design,implementation philosophy and functional positioning are relatively clear.Our country should establish a perfect duty lawyer operating mechanism and give duty lawyers sufficient rights to ensure the effectiveness of their duties.China should also set strict standards for the duty lawyer group to ensure the high level and high quality of this team.In terms of funding sources,since it is difficult to meet the operational needs of the duty lawyers by relying solely on financial appropriations,we may try to develop multiple sources of funding sources,such as maintaining duty lawyer system as a public welfare undertaking and accepting social donations.In terms of the types of duty lawyers,although duty lawyers in China currently only serve applicants in the field of criminal litigation,applicants who need legal help do not exist only in the field of criminal litigation.With the development of China's economy and the improvement of the legal aid system,it may be possible to try to implement a duty lawyer system in other areas such as administrative litigation in the future.In addition,given that the duty lawyer has a time advantage in understanding the case,gaining the trust of the suspect and the defendant,and also to improve judicial efficiency,it may be possible to try to allow a duty lawyer to serve as his defender under the premise of respecting the wishes of the client.Try to open the way for duty lawyers to transform to defenders.The construction and implementation of the duty lawyer system in China should be based on the clarification of the responsibilities of the state and the government.Adhering to the design concepts of protecting human rights and maintaining social stability,the duty lawyer system should be included in the scope of the legal aid system.We should not only concentrate on improving the connection mechanism between duty lawyers at different stages,but also pay attention to explore the mechanism of transforming duty lawyers into defenders.Judging from the current legislation and regulations of the duty lawyer system in China and the status of China's legal aid system,the duty lawyer system belongs to the scope of the legal aid system.The function performed by the duty lawyer is a defense function and should have Marking rights and other rights.The revised Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China in 2018 added new regulations on the duty lawyer system.This can be regarded as an important improvement of the legal status of the duty lawyer system in China and an important improvement on the top-level design of the duty lawyer system. |
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