Criminal Legal Aid Issues Related To Research

By the year of 2010, the legal system with Chinese characteristics has been established as scheduled. It has served as a fundamental precondition for the national strategy of governing the country in accordance with the laws. However,we should also admit that the Chinese legal system has to be improved in terms of its rigour and integrity, and it will take time for us to learn how to practice law after the establishment of the legal system. This could be demonstrated in our criminal law. The criminal law is more concise and rigorous due to its severity of the criminal procedures. However, this feature of the criminal law could lead to excessive legal articles and difficulties in enforcement. Therefore, the criminal legal aid has become a necessary component of the criminal legal system, and key standard to evaluate the criminal legal systems around the globe.The criminal legal aid in China has been lagging behind due to its long-term history of governing the country by individual’s opinions but not the laws, and the importance of the legal system has only been noticed 3 decades ago after the People’s Republic of China was established 6 decades ago. Although we have had the relevant rules and regulations, we still face many problems with regards to the legal formality, content and enforcement. In addition, we still have many misunderstandings and imperfections related to the basic concept, connotation, guiding principle and objectives, content, and relevant supporting legal measures. Therefore, this research paper will try to address these issues mentioned above and share with readers the suggestions on how to improve the legislative and legal clarity, including the suggestions on revision of the Criminal Procedure Law.This research paper consists of 5 chapters in addition to the introduction. Chapter one defines the basic issues of the criminal legal aid and lays out a clear framework for the elaboration later. Chapter two makes an analysis on the problems encountered by China’s criminal legal aid. Chapter three introduces foreign experiences in offering the criminal legal aid. Chapter four focuses on how to improve China’s criminal legal aid system. Chapter Five discusses the important roles of the criminal legal aid in keeping momentum of China’s legal reform.