Judicial reform in China

4. Enhancing Judicial Democracy

The people's courts as the judicial organs and the people's procuratorates as the legal supervisory organs also need to promote democracy to ensure judicial impartiality. China is striving to establish and improve the systems of people's jurors and people's supervisors. This provides a significant guarantee for developing socialist democratic politics, and realizing the people's participation in the administration of state affairs in accordance with the law.

Improving the system of people's jurors. The system of people's jurors is a major way for the public to directly participate in and supervise judicial work. In 2004, China's legislative organ promulgated the Decision on Improving the System of People's Jurors. The state has expanded the sources of people's jurors to all walks of life, and determine the people's jurors for cases by random selection from the rosters. In a collegiate panel, people's jurors have the same power as the judges, except that they cannot serve as chief judges, and exercise the right to vote independently for the findings of fact and the application of law. The people's courts at all levels have held training sessions for people's jurors, mainly focusing on judicial procedure, professional skills and awareness of the rule of law, so as to improve their capability to perform their duties.

(Table 1: Cases with the Participation of People's Jurors 2006-2011)

Attempt to establish the system of people's supervisors. In 2003, the Supreme People's Procuratorate launched a pilot program to establish the system of people's supervisors. In October 2010, this system is comprehensively implemented in procuratorial organs throughout the country. People's supervisors are selected from all walks of life who supervise and assess, according to supervisory procedures, the following situations in power-abuse cases handled by the people's procuratorates: failure in putting a case on file for investigation, wrongfully putting a case on file for investigation, and withdrawing a case or stopping prosecution. From October 2003 to the end of 2011, people's supervisors in China supervised 35,514 cases, and gave opinions different from the original ones of the people's procuratorates in 1,653 cases. People's supervisors' votes in 908 cases were adopted by the people's procuratorates, accounting for 54.93% of the total.

5. Strengthening Legal Supervision by Procuratorial Organs

The people's procuratorates exercise legal supervision over judicial activities, such as investigation, trial and execution. China sets enhancing supervision over judicial power as the focus of its judicial reform, and has taken a range of measures to strengthen legal supervision.

Strengthening legal supervision over case-filing and activities of the investigation organs. The people's procuratorates and organs of public security have established a briefing system and information-sharing platform for criminal cases. By means of examining and approving for arrest, handling people's petitions and visits, complaints of litigants, public opinion and media reports, the people's procuratorates and organs of public security can promptly find clues to failures in putting a case on file for investigation, or wrongfully putting a case on file for investigation, so that they can review and deal with such situations in accordance with the law. When accepting a case, a charge or a reported offence, or discovering that investigation personnel have collected evidence illegally, the people's procuratorates give suggestions for correction based on investigation and affirmation, and in the meantime, enhance supervision over the examination and approval of an arrest, the extension or recalculation of an investigation or detention. In 2011, the procuratorial organs in China supervised the filing of 19,786 cases. They urged the correction of unlawful procedures during the investigation of 39,432 cases.

Strengthening legal supervision over the judicial activities of the people's courts. For criminal, civil and administrative judgments, rulings and mediation decisions that have come into effect, if mistakes are found in them or which might damage the national or public interest, or contravene legal procedures and affect judicial justice, the procuratorial organs are entitled to lodge a protest or give procuratorial suggestions and take other supervisory measures. The people's courts shall deal with the matter and give a written reply within a month after receiving the procuratorial suggestion.

Strengthening legal supervision over penalty execution and surveillance and control process. In view of the exposure of some pernicious incidents in detention houses and prisons in recent years, the procuratorial organs, along with related departments, have launched a campaign to review law-enforcement work in detention houses and to "remove hidden dangers of accidents and promote safe custody" in prisons, in order to ensure the implementation of surveillance and control according to law. The procuratorial organs have intensified supervision over prison and other places of surveillance by regulating and strengthening the work on resident procurator's offices established at these places, building up a network to share information on law enforcement and monitoring in these places, and improving and implementing mechanisms for supervision over detention procedures and for on-site inspections. In addition, the procuratorial organs have intensified supervision over commutation of punishment, parole and temporary execution of sentences outside prison, worked to establish a supervision mechanism for the punctual implementation of penalty changes, and conducted special checks on the implementation of medical parole and the use of enforcement tools and punishing confinement at detention houses. The newly amended Criminal Procedure Law promulgated in 2012 stipulates that prisons, detention houses and other surveillance agencies, when giving suggestions or written proposals to the people's courts for commutation of punishment, release on parole or execution of sentence outside prison, should send the written proposals or copies of them to the people's procuratorates, which can submit their opinions to the people's courts in writing.

Strengthening supervision over judicial functionaries' acts of dereliction of duty. The Supreme People's Procuratorate, together with the Supreme People's Court and other relevant organs, have formulated Some Regulations on Intensifying Legal Supervision over Judicial Functionaries' Dereliction of Duty in Litigation Activities. It makes clear that procuratorial organs can exercise their supervision over 12 acts of dereliction of duty (including bending the law for personal gains) on the part of judicial functionaries by investigating and confirming the alleged violations, giving rectification opinions, and suggesting that the judicial functionaries in question be replaced, in order to punish dereliction of duty, to curb judicial corruption and safeguard justice.