A Multi-Perspective Investigation Of The Criminal Identification

As an important lawsuit activity, the criminal identification plays a significant role in discovering and investigating the facts of cases. Internationally, it has been confirmed in legislation or applied into judicial practices by many countries. However, a large number of criminal judicial practices have proved that due to the fixed characteristics of identification itself, the unscientific application of identification can bring higher risk to criminal proceedings and the false identifications can probably result in misjudged cases. Accordingly, each country is now making their efforts to develop its positive values and to reduce, even to avoid its negative influences by engaging in researching into theories and in perfecting legislation of criminal identification. As a result of the lack of regulations upon the criminal identification in our nation’s Criminal Procedure Law and the related statements inconformity with regulations, the identification activities in judicial practices are relatively out of order, which has to be dealt with in legislation urgently. On the basis of the fundamental category, this paper summarizes and analyzes the criminal identification from the perspectives of psychology、procedural law and evidence law, etc. Also, by integrating clauses of criminal identification in related regulations and referencing overseas experiences, this paper also aims to provide theoretical foundations for new clauses’addition and the formulation of its matching criminal identification principles in modification and to put forward some suggestions to legislation. This article can be divided into 5 chapters as follows.Chapter 1, the fundamental category of criminal identification The fundamental identification of criminal identification is the logic starting point and the footstone for the exploration of criminal identification issues. This chapter mainly focuses on the comparisons and researches of the basic concepts of criminal identification. Firstly, analyzing the legislation concept of criminal identification; secondly, clearing up the theoretical definitions of criminal identification given in academia completely; lastly; proposing the definition of criminal identification for this article based on investigating its features and on considering the related factors. Afterwards, some other problems, such as the connections and differences among criminal identification and criminal recognition, criminal appraisal、subject and object of criminal identification、types of criminal identification are also discussed in this chapter.Chapter 2, the criminal identification under the scope of psychology On the basis of existing research findings in psychology and these four mental phases (sensory phase、remembering phase、retention phase and re-recognition phase) of criminal identification, its psychological mechanisms and the influential factors in its each phase shall be put forward to provide references and principles for designing identification procedures scientifically and evaluating identification results objectively. The influential factors for the first three phases can make the identifiers’perception and memory false, thus resulting in false identification, but before operating the identification, these factors have already existed and the criminal judicial authorities have no possibility to take control of them. In the phase of re-recognition (i.e. identification phase), the identification accuracy of identifiers can be improved through scientific processes and methods, which shall be mainly discussed in this chapter.Chapter 3, the criminal identification under the scope of procedural law Mainly from the perspective of procedure, this chapter will analyze and explore criminal identification in four aspects consisting of startup procedure, operation procedure, termination procedure and relief procedure. Regulations related to criminal identification at abroad, as well as in Macao and Taiwan in China, are also taken into consideration. The author will analyze the problems in the procedure of criminal identification and put forward his own ideas. In the startup procedure, the startup conditions and rights are to be described;in the operation procedure, inquiring, informing and reminding before identification, as well as mixed, individual and negative identification are to be described; in the termination procedure, re-inquiring and well-recording after identification are to be described; in the relief procedure, certain rights and corresponding relief ways taken by the suspects as the object of identification are mainly to be described.Chapter 4, the criminal identification under the scope of evidence law This chapter mainly explores the legal position and the legal attribute of identification record in view of evidence. Targeting at the argumentations in academia that whether the identification record can be served as evidence or not and to which type of evidence it belongs, the legal position of the evidence of identification record shall be analyzed and evaluated in this chapter, then getting the conclusion that the identification record should be regarded as a type of evidence independently. As for the legal attribute of identification record, it will be illustrated from the aspects of power of evidence and degree of attest. With regard to its power of evidence, this article discusses whether identification record has the power of evidence and its components; while for its degree of attest, this article probes into how to investigate the case by using identification record itself and by integrating other evidences. It also figures out that the identification record can not act as the unique evidence to make a decision on a case.Chapter 5, Improving the legislation of criminal identification This chapter studies the rules of criminal identification in Criminal Procedure Law and its provisions in investigation and trial, analyzes the problems and defects of criminal identification in legislation, demonstrates the necessity to standardize them, and proposes the basic concept of improving our legislation in criminal identification. In the part of legislation improvement, the basic principles of perfecting our legislation in criminal identification are firstly discussed; and then combining with the model of foreign criminal identification, our own legislative framework tailor-made for our national conditions is proposed, expressing that in China we should adopt the model in which the addition of identification clauses into the Criminal Procedure Law and the formulation of identification rules will be integrated. Finally, based on the contents needing to be improved and added in legislation of criminal identification, the modification advices for the clauses of criminal identification in Criminal Procedure Law shall be presented, and the proposal draft of criminal identification rules shall also be designed.