Research On The Protection Of Victims’ Rights In The Leniency System Of Pleading Guilty And Accepting Punishment

The leniency system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment is consistent with the criminal law policy of tempering leniency with severity and the international development direction,which can promote the separation of complicated cases,help judicial resources to be better allocated,and thus relieve judicial pressure and improve judicial efficiency.As the direct aggressor of the crime,the victim has a direct interest in the outcome of the trial.The victim’s participation in the leniency system can effectively improve the voluntary,authenticity and legitimacy of guilty plea,help to strengthen the supervision of public security organs,procuratorial organs and judicial organs,and is of great significance to the realization of the law’s function of defining division and stopping disputes.However,Chinese current leniency system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment still has obvious defects in victim’s rights protection.Because the victim’s principal position in the leniency system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment is not recognized and the right to participate in the procedure is not paid attention to,the victim lacks effective participation and sufficient attention in the operation of the leniency system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment.To be specific,first of all,the current rules do not guarantee the victim’s right to know and right to express opinions in the process of investigation,examination and prosecution and trial.Although the law has stipulated in principle that the victims’ opinions should be heard in the application process of the leniency system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment,it has not specified which organ has the responsibility to explain the situation and explain the problem to the victims,nor has it stipulated how the victims’ opinions should be heard,let alone how the victims can further participate in the system.Moreover,considering that the related cases that apply the lenient system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment are often tried through the expedited trial procedure,the victim’s participation in the procedure is more likely to become a formality.Secondly,in the victim has always lacked the right to appeal and the right to legal aid,the victim has not been included in the duty lawyer system to help the object,more aggravate the victim and the defendant rights of the unequal.Finally,there is a conflict of application between the leniency system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment and the system of criminal reconciliation.In the leniency system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment,the understanding of the victim is only a consideration,rather than a prerequisite.Such a conflict will cause adverse consequences to the harmony and unity of the whole criminal procedure.The main reason is that the influence of the traditional criminal justice model,the conflict between the concept of negotiated justice and the concept of restorative justice are the main reasons for the inadequate protection of the rights of victims by the lenient system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment.In order to solve the above problems,we need to look at the overseas experience correctly,and finally improve the system for the local problems and institutional environment.Although Chinese lenient system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment is different from the extraterritorial similar system and is born from the localized reform of extraterritorial similar system,the concept of safeguarding the rights of victims and the practice of ensuring the effective and appropriate participation of victims in the extraterritorial similar system can also be used for reference.Based on the standpoint of solving local problems and adapting local institutional environment,the improvement of the leniency system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment can be carried out from the following aspects.Firstly,make clear the subject status of victims in the leniency system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment,not only affirm the importance of the victim’s participation in the leniency system,but also insist that the control right of starting the leniency procedure of pleading guilty and accepting punishment should not belong to the victim.Secondly,the right to know,the right to express opinions and the right to choose a certain procedure are guaranteed to ensure the effective participation of the victim.Third,by strengthening the external supervision of victims,expanding the scope of legal aid for victims and improving the victim’s social relief system,set up a procedural relief mechanism for the exercise of rights;Fourthly,seek the connection mechanism between the lenient system of pleading guilty and accepting punishment and the system of criminal reconciliation to resolve the system conflict.