Research on Procedure Justice in Criminal Prosecution Structure

【Abstract】Procedural justice is the maturity symbol of the law， and also an important direction of China’s current judicial reform. In the field of criminal procedure， in order to realize procedural justice， we must correctly exercise the supervising investigatory power of procuratorate， lawyer and court.

【Key words】Procedure justice; Criminal prosecution; Procedural value

【作者簡介】郝珍（1992.07-），女，山东枣庄人，青岛大学，硕士研究生在读，研究方向：诉讼法学。

1. Concept of Procedure Justice in Criminal Prosecution Structure

In 1971， John Rawls， a professor at Harvard University， first put forward the idea of procedural justice in his book A Theory of Justice. John Rawls holds that “when judging an activity or decision that will at least affect the rights and interests of some people， we should not only pay attention to the legitimacy of the result， but also observe whether the formation process of the result or the procedure meets some objective criteria of legitimacy and rationality.” Procedural justice is an extremely important concept of the rule of law. Its basic connotation is that all legal decisions must follow the proper and reasonable procedures set in advance by law.

Specifically， the procedure justice in criminal prosecution structure refers to the equality， justice and openness that people pursue in the operation of criminal procedure. The public security， the procuratorate and the court can follow scientific， reasonable and established procedures to ensure that the guilty are punished fairly and the innocent are not subject to criminal prosecution.

2. Realization Methods of Procedure Justice in Criminal Prosecution Structure

Supervising Investigatory Power of Procuratorate. There are two kinds of prosecution functions in judicial powers， which are public prosecution and investigation. Although the two powers are separated， they are consistent in content in terms of their natures. In procedural sense， investigation is the preparation stage of prosecution， prosecution is the implementation stage of prosecution， and final judgment is the realization stage of prosecution. By guiding and supervising the investigation of criminal cases， procuratorial organizations can effectively eliminate external interference and quickly find out the facts of the cases. In the trial stage， in order to exercise the prosecution function， the court should display the evidence materials of lawful evidence collection to judge based on the facts and evidences.

Supervising Investigatory Power of Lawyer. The lawyer’s right to intervene in the investigation stage and the right to be present in the interrogation stage are important components of the criminal suspect’s right to obtain the lawyer’s help. They are also powerful safeguards for civil rights to resist judicial power reasonably. The law gives lawyers the right to intervene in the investigation stage and the right to be present during interrogation， which can effectively curb the occurrence of extorting confessions by torture and illegal evidence collection. As an independent third party， lawyers not only play a supervisory role， but also restrict the illegal behavior of investigation organs with their professionalism. In this way， the equality of prosecution and defense can be realized， and the rights and interests of criminal suspects and defendants can be greatly strengthened and guaranteed.

Supervising Investigatory Power of Court. Public security organizations have abundant power resources and diversified investigative means， and their investigative powers are unidirectional and compulsory. Criminal suspects and defendants are regarded as the object of prosecution and are in a passive managed position. Its basic civil rights are more vulnerable to attack by investigative power. The lack of supervision and restriction in the exercise of investigative power results in the occurrence of transgressions or transgressions， which should be effectively controlled. Only when the judicial officers with neutral status and detached interests examine the arrest act， can the arrest right involving the disposition of major personal rights be brought into the network of supervision law to guarantee citizenship rights. In this way， a set of restrictive mechanism to ensure the legalization of investigation behavior is formed.

3. Closing Words

There are some unreasonable designs in our procedural system. It requires continuous reform and improvement of the procedural system through trial methods on the basis of fully summarizing and recognizing trial experience and laws. We should carry out judicial reform according to the requirements of various elements of procedural justice.

References：

[1]Min Fengjin.Justice of Efficiency：Re-examination of the Value of Criminal Procedure[J].Journal of Shanxi Politics and Law Institute for Administrators，2017，30（1）：75-79.

[2]Liu Zheng.Study on the Standardization Reform of Parole Procedures from the Perspective of Penalty Justice[J].Law Science Magazine，2015（10）：116-124.