The Protection Of Public Prosecution Case Victim's Right To Know

The right to know is one of the very important litigant rights for victim of public prosecution case, which is fundamental to their litigant rights. In lawsuits of public prosecution, victims'right to know is not only wide-ranging but dominant. In terms of different stages thereof, this right covers the filing, investigation, review and prosecution, trial and judgment execution of criminal proceedings. In this sense, victims'right to know should be fundamental to their litigant rights in lawsuits of public prosecution.Citizens'right to know, including victims of crimes'has been specified on both in relevant international covenants and instruments and in countries under sound rule of law-even constitutionalized in some of them. Besides legislatively defining the basic attributes of this right, the developed countries have also attached much importance to practice-oriented system design. By contrast, in terms of legislation and systemization concerning this right, China still faces many deficiencies. Therefore, through systematic analysis and comparison and with successful foreign practices as references, this paper proposes a protectorate for victims'right to learn the truth in China-based lawsuits of public prosecution, aiming to help improve the country's protection system of victims'rights and procedures of criminal prosecution. The discourse has been conducted concretely in four successive sections:1. The connotation of citizen's right to know, especially victims in public prosecution lawsuits'and the definition of its value. Victims'right to know in public prosecution lawsuits means that they have the right to know information relevant to their interests, such as the content of their litigant rights and liabilities, the proceeding of the lawsuits and the results of settlement. Fundamental and fontal, this right is the premise for the victims'exercise of other litigant rights.2. A brief introduction to several typical countries'protectorates for victims' right to know, and a subsequent summarization of some features and merits thereof. Countries like Germany, France, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have been selected for this part. 3. An analysis of relevant stipulations in China's criminal procedure code, judicial interpretations and administrative regulations, and a subsequent summarization of the country's current situation, existing deficiencies and causes thereof in this field, for the sake of a deeper background understanding.4. Several propositions on improving China's protectorate of victims'right to know in public prosecution lawsuits, which is also the core of this paper. The basic idea of this section is:first of all, make clear the legal status of the right to know; then improve stipulations in criminal laws on victims'right to know, and meanwhile establish and develop relevant legal systems, with a view to protecting this right in terms of both legislation and practice.