China mulls labor reeducation system reform
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E-mail Xinhua, October 9, 2012
The newly amended law makes it clear that confessions by a suspect or a defendant obtained through torture or other illegal means, as well as eyewitness testimony and victim's statements that obtained through the use of violence, threats or other illegal means, should be excluded from court proceedings.
China has also revised laws to provide a legal guarantee for lawyers to meet with suspects or defendants, access case materials and obtain evidence through investigation.
According to the white paper, from 2006 to 2011, lawyers throughout the country provided defense in 2.4 million criminal cases, up 54.16 percent over the period between 2001 and 2005.
By the end of 2011, China had more than 3,600 legal assistance agencies, 14,000 full-time legal assistance personnel, 215,000 lawyers and 73,000 community-level legal service personnel.
A total of 28 provincial governments have formulated local statutory regulations on legal assistance. Since 2009, funding for legal assistance has increased at an annual rate of 26.8 percent, reaching 1.28 billion yuan (203 million U.S. dollars) in 2011, it says.
Solving problems by Chinese way
As a populous developing country, China still has problems in its judicial system, Jiang said, adding that the country's judicial system will be based on its reality, instead of simply copied from other countries.
"The problems can only be solved by the Chinese way and the wisdom. Copying foreign experience or systems might lead to a bad end," he said, in response to a question about whether China's judicial system should follow Western models.
However, he said, China is keen to learn from experience of other countries and will try to incorporate judicial concepts and practices utilized elsewhere.
The white paper said China's judicial organs issued regulations in 2010 on building a case guidance system to standardize judicial acts.
Different from the common law system for case judgment, China's case guidance system, under the statutory law, uses cases to give direction for the accurate understanding and appropriate application of the provisions of laws.
Judicial reform, an important part of China's overall political reform, remains a long and arduous task. The white paper urges continuous efforts to strengthen reforms with a goal of establishing a "just, effective and authoritative socialist judicial system with Chinese characteristics."
Jiang said that China will steadily push the reforms forward step by step, adding that there are no "best" systems in the world, but only ones that are suitable for different countries.
