Chen Weidong Professor of the School of Law of Renmin University of China and also serves as executive vice president of the China Criminal Procedure Law Research Association. He participated in the revisions of the Criminal Procedure Law throughout the process and published more

Chen Weidong

　　Professor of the School of Law of Renmin University of China and also serves as executive vice president of the China Criminal Procedure Law Research Association. He participated in the revisions of the Criminal Procedure Law throughout the process and published more than 400 academic papers.

　　"Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms" proposes that the overall goal of comprehensively deepening reforms is to improve and develop the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities. A core indicator of national governance modernization is "rule of law". Criminal justice is an important means of governing the country and has always been valued by Chinese rulers. After more than two thousand years of practical summary and theoretical explanation, it has been formed on the basis of traditional philosophical thought and serves the "great unification" state rule practice. The traditional governance architecture can be summarized into three levels.

　First, national governance level. First of all, punishment is regarded as an important means of governing the country and is the main tool for establishing and maintaining social order. Secondly, whether the punishment is appropriate or not is an important indicator to measure whether the country governs good governance. Virtue is the main force and punishment are the auxiliary force, and cautious punishment and punishment have become the basic concept of governing the country in ancient times. Finally, there is a causal relationship between the fairness of criminal justice and orderly governance, and an enlightened monarch will ensure the fairness of punishment through various means. Second, local governance level. The reality of a vast centralized unified country determines that the characteristics of China's governance model are unfolding from top to bottom. The key to the operation of this governance model lies in establishing and improving the mechanisms of "higher orders issued" and "lower information" and "higher control" in the Qing Dynasty. Third, at the grassroots governance level. One of the main characteristics of criminal justice governance with Chinese characteristics is the emphasis on education. In ancient times, the judiciary focused on education and mediation. If the case mediation failed or the crime was serious, it should not be "privately reconciled". Even when it reached the judgment stage, the primary task of traditional justice was still moral education, and the second was to punish crimes.

　　Times have passed, and the traditional governance structure is no longer suitable for the development of modern countries and society, and China's governance model needs to be transformed urgently. Although the traditional methods of criminal justice governance have been greatly impacted by modern legal concepts during the transformation process, the governance model with Chinese characteristics is still consistent with the current governance needs in many aspects. In order to allow the "governance code" contained in the traditional criminal justice governance structure of the Chinese legal system to revitalize new vitality in national governance in the new era, the rule of law can be retranslated in the following aspects.

　First, the contemporary mapping of punishments and simplicity. The system of lenient punishment for confession and acceptance of punishment, written into the Criminal Procedure Law in 2018, has become one of the most important basic systems in China's criminal justice. The basic content of this system is to leniently and truthfully confess your crimes, have no objection to the alleged criminal facts, sincerely repent and willing to accept punishment, and will be punished by law. The core of the system of lenient punishment for confession and acceptance of punishment lies in "leniency". This system carries the tolerant spirit of modern judicial system, demonstrates the humanistic care for criminal prosecution, and helps to substantively resolve social conflicts, repair damaged social relations, and promote social harmony. The reform of the system of lenient punishment for admitting guilt and accepting punishment is a contemporary reflection of the judicial ethics of ancient punishment, which is in line with the spirit of lenient punishment for pursuing crimes in traditional criminal justice.

　Second, social participation in criminal justice. Citizen participation is the basic direction of modern national civilization governance, and absorbing citizen participation is also a necessary means of judicial governance. Criminal justice focuses on relying on the masses and mobilizing the masses is a major feature of China's criminal justice governance. China's "Amendment to the Criminal Law (Eight)" established a community correction system. The community correction system integrates the practice of village autonomy in traditional society, which has positive significance for helping criminals return to society as soon as possible and promoting social harmony. It also satisfies modern criminal activities. The need for social governance in judicial governance. In addition, the educational function of China's criminal trials is still being strengthened. In addition to promoting the law, criminal trials also convey the value of norms such as socialist core values, social public order and good customs.

　Third, criminal justice reform reflected by the concept of human rights. Compared with the traditional Chinese humanitarian judicial concepts such as "careful punishment and punishment" and "respecting the elderly and loving the young and compassionate with illness", modern human rights protection has shifted from rights-based to people-oriented, and the connotation of rights has been continuously expanded, and procedural rights have jumped to priority protection. , extending from domestic protection to international protection, presenting a new development trend, and improving the human rights protection system has been the main tone of China's judicial reform over the past decades. When the Criminal Procedure Law was amended in 2012, the provisions on "respect and protect human rights" were added to the tasks of Article 2 of the Criminal Procedure Law, and the provisions of the "state respect and protect human rights" in China's Constitution were implemented in the departments. The Criminal Procedure Law of 2012 also added provisions such as not forcing anyone to prove their guilt or exclusion of illegal evidence. These new regulations are closely linked to each other, which has made great progress and development in China's level of human rights protection in criminal proceedings.

　　The criminal judicial governance model with Chinese characteristics includes a deep understanding of the nature and function of punishment, the role of judicial officers, the relationship between the judiciary and the people, and other issues. This governance method is embedded in the cultural spirit of the Chinese nation and has shaped or influenced the current national governance system in many aspects. Refining the endogenous logic of China's criminal justice governance and making it meet the requirements of rule of law is the only way to modernize China's criminal justice governance.

Source: China Social Science Network-China Social Sciences Daily Author: Chen Weidong