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Wang Zhaoguo said the law is being amended to strengthen and innovate social administration, strengthen criminal punishment procedures and safeguard stability.
He said during the drafting and revising process the NPC complied with the principle of basing any changes on China's basic situation and promoting improvement of the criminal procedure step by step.
"Improvement of the criminal procedure and related systems shall be based on China's basic situation, keeping up with the times but not going beyond the reality at the present stage, and should not blindly copy judicial systems and procedural systems in foreign countries," he added.
According to Wang, improving China's Criminal Procedure Law should help to ensure accurate and timely ascertainment of facts about crimes, correct application of the law, punishment of criminals and protection of the innocent against being investigated for criminal responsibility, respect and safeguard human rights, and protect procedural rights and other legitimate rights and interests of the people. It will also focus on solving conflicts between punishing crimes and maintaining judicial fairness and solving some prominent problems in the judicial practice.
Evolution of the Criminal Procedure Law
When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, no criminal procedure law was formulated. The Constitution and some other laws stipulated the system of judicial departments and some principles and proceedings on criminal procedure. In 1979 China promulgated the Criminal Procedure Law, which took effect on January 1, 1980.
The Fourth Session of the Eighth NPC held on March 5, 1996, made the first amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law. It stated "no person shall be found guilty without being judged as such by a people's court according to law."
The Fifth Session of the 11th NPC held on March 5, 2012, made the second amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law. It included respecting and safeguarding human rights into the law.
Opinions on the Amendment
To collect public opinion, the draft amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law was posted on the website of the NPC from August 30 to September 30, 2011.
Within the month, 7,489 people raised 80,953 opinions, of which 49,922 approved of the draft, accounting for 61.7 percent; 17,178 proposed suggestions for revision, accounting for 21.2 percent; and other opinions accounted for 17.1 percent. The Office of the NPC Standing Committee also received 323 letters for suggestions, most of which agreed upon the draft.
Highlights of the Amendment
Safeguarding human rights: The amendment includes respecting and safeguarding human rights into Article 2 of the Criminal Procedure Law. It is a significant step in carrying through the principles of the Constitution and moving toward giving priority to safeguarding human rights.
Prohibiting self-incrimination: No one shall be forced to testify against himself/herself. It is the judicial department's duty to prove whether a person is guilty, instead of coercing a confession out of the suspect.
Restricting torture for testimony: Illegally obtained evidence shall be excluded from legal proceedings. This will restrict illegally obtained evidence and extorted testimony in China.
Prohibiting "secret arrest": Improvement shall be made in the conditions for arrest and the procedure for the people's procuratorate to examine and approve arrests, and standards shall be set for notifying family members of a relative's arrest.
Rights of lawyers: The rights of lawyers in meeting with suspects, referring to records and entering the criminal procedure during the investigation period shall be safeguarded. It makes clear that criminal suspects can entrust defendants during the investigation period.
Limiting power: The amendment limits the power of the police and procuratorate, improves stipulations on interrogating suspects and the accused, and enhances supervision over investigation activities.
Reviewing and approval of death penalty: The amendment strengthens provisions on public trial, clarifies the scope of public trial during the second instance and provides more detailed provisions on the reviewing and approval procedure of death penalty.
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