China Court Trial Prosecution and Defense Skills Training Course

Author: [USA] Buman
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: In 1996, the "Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China" underwent significant amendments. Some of these amendments pointed towards the reform direction of China's criminal trial system. These amendments indicated a need to make greater use of witness testimony during trials. This requires legal professionals in China, whether prosecutors or defense attorneys, to play a more active role in court proceedings. In summary, these amendments represent a move towards establishing a more adversarial trial system. After these amendments were made, there still exists a gap between the new provisions and their implementation. This gap is understandable because some of the amended provisions still require further interpretation and clarification; at the same time, it is also due to the lack of experience among Chinese judges and lawyers in participating in adversarial trials. This textbook aims to help Chinese judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys learn how to bridge the gap between the new law's provisions and their implementation, primarily addressing how to make China's criminal trials more adversarial. This textbook focuses on issues that contribute to creating a more adversarial trial environment, as such an environment will help enhance the ability of China's criminal trials to uncover facts and improve the protection of defendants' rights. To achieve this effect, the textbook provides relevant knowledge on international fair trial standards and discusses the origins and essential elements of adversarial trial procedures. In this way, it will offer Chinese practitioners different perspectives and background knowledge within the framework of international standards and China's new criminal procedure law, while also inspiring ideas and discovering methods to adjust China's criminal judicial practices. However, the main purpose of this textbook is to provide information to Chinese legal professionals—whether prosecutors or defense attorneys—to help them improve their defense skills and apply them in the more active and adversarial trial environment encouraged by the new Criminal Procedure Law. The textbook was written to enhance the pre-trial preparation capabilities of both the prosecution and defense, improve their ability to question witnesses and present evidence in court, and become more effective in articulating their arguments.