On Juvenile Criminal Cases Social Investigation System

In recent years, the Social Investigation rises in juvenile criminal proceedings began tofocus on the minors involved in the social background and personality characteristics etc, andbroke the traditional and statutory idea of handling the case in the past. The widespread use ofthis system has played an irreplaceable role to realize the individuation of penalty, to educate,probate and correct the juvenile offenders. The judicial practice mode carried out currentlygenerally had a positive effect, but there still exist some problems such as the imperfectcontent of the Social Investigation, the inconsistency of the subjects of the SocialInvestigation, and the time lag for Social Investigation etc, so I expect that on the basis ofintroducing the concept and the evolution of the Social Investigation System of juvenilecriminal cases, to give a comprehensive analysis carried out throughout the several typicalmodes of Social Investigation and analyze the pros and cons of different modes, as well as thecommon reaction from the three aspects such as the content, subjects and the time of SocialInvestigation, and then make recommendations of the Social Investigation System for thethree aspects previously mentioned.In addition to the introduction and conclusion, this paper has of about30,000words.In the first part, I’ll analyze the Social Investigation System of juvenile criminal casethrough its concept and its historical development. The Social Investigation System ofjuvenile criminal cases refers to the Social Investigation Report, which is the reference for thejudiciary on the sentencing of juvenile defendants formed on the basis of a comprehensivesurvey cover the social background by certain investigator. It originated in the United States,and has experienced the evolution process from the birth of the probation system to the formof criminal sentencing investigation system. In China, the Social Investigation System ofjuvenile criminal cases is implemented by the court firstly in the trial stage, recently in manyareas of the procuratorial organs started the pilot, and have achieved positive results.In the second part, I’ll introduce several Social Investigation modes representative allover the country, it include the mode of the intervention by the lawyers in the office of thepublic prosecutor of district of Shapingba at Chongqing, the mode of the investigation in thejudicial administrative institution of Shapingba District Court, the mode of the participationby appropriate adults in Panlong district of Kunming city in Yunan province, the mode of the combination of Social Investigation and the personality inventory mode in Changning districtof Shanghai, the mode of the cooperation of the social workers of Justice in Mentou district ofBeijing, and the dominant mode by the procedural judge in Chengdu district of Sichuanprovince. The content of the Investigation includes the basic personal status, family status,usually performance and a comprehensive analysis of the causes of crime, and has its owncharacteristics,the basic situation and the opinions of lawyers, the attitude of the minor victim,the personality characteristics of the juvenile delinquent, the possibility of recidivism, thenature of the evidence of the Social Investigation Report on sentencing. The subject of theinvestigation is divided into the following types: lawyers, administrative institutions, theappropriate adults, the Youth Protection Organization and the Social worker correctiondepartments, the judicial social worker, the procedural judges. The time of the investigation ofthe different modes are: the investigation stage, the arrest and prosecution stage, and thepre-trial stage.In the third part focus on the recommendations put forward to improve the SocialInvestigation System of juvenile criminal cases, mainly to conclude and analyze the pros andcons of the different modes around the country mentioned in the second part and thecommon problems reflect in the judicial practice. In the aspect of the content of the SocialInvestigation, the mode of Chongqing pay a great importance to lawyers’ advice, but theirparticipation still to be improved; the mode of Kunming include the views of the youngvictims, but lack of a detailed description of the source of the materials; the mode of Shanghaiadded the psychological assessment of the juvenile in criminal case, however theconsideration of the long-term external resources to participate in is insufficient; the mode ofBeijing emphasis on the assessment of recidivism possibilities of juvenile, but the familiarityof the psychological characteristics of minors needs to be improved; the mode of Chengduaffirmed the Social Investigation Report as a sentencing evidence, but did not specify themanner applied. In the aspect of the subjects of the Social Investigation, the mode ofChongqing affirmed that the lawyer as the subject of investigation will promote theinvestigation organ to burden the responsibility of proving the necessary arrest, but theirrights are strictly limited; the mode of Kunming which admit the appropriate adults be thesubjects maintain the neutrality, but facing the problem of the identity be recognized; themode of Shanghai has the participation of two types of subjects of investigation, but has theproblems of the treatment and the training of social investigators; the mode of Beijing recognize the professional qualifications of judicial social worker, but the strict qualificationof the judicial social worker influence its promotional value; the mode of Chengdu, in whichthe procedural judges can reduce the cost of training, but the identity of the procedural judgesis easy to be questioned. In the aspect of the time of the Social Investigation, the mode ofChongqing and Kunming start at the stage of investigation, the information obtained providethe evidence for arrest, prosecution and sentencing; the mode of Shanghai is in theprosecution stage of arrest, and lack of the protection of the rights of minors in theinvestigation stage; the mode of Beijing and Chengdu determined the time of SocialInvestigation within three days after the determination of the cases been filed, the time ofintervention is too late, and affected greatly the integrity of the Social Investigation Report.Through the analysis above, we can see that the contents of the Social Investigation isthe basis to judge the necessity of the arrest in the investigation and arrest stage, the basis ofthe necessity for prosecution and the recommendations for sentencing in the prosecution stage,and the basis of sentencing in the trial stage. Considering that the public security organs havethe power of investigation, has the obligation to collect evidence objectively andcomprehensively, and bear the burden to prove the necessity of arrest and prosecution, theSocial Investigation exercised by the public security organ at the investigation stage couldmeet better the burden of proof of the necessity of the conditions of arrest and the prosecution,therefore, the public security organ shall bear the main responsibility of the SocialInvestigation, and be the main subject of the Social Investigation. The lawyers also have theright to investigate and collect evidence, and should become one of the main subjects of theSocial Investigation. The procuratorate has the power to conduct investigations in theinvestigation stage, and the court has also the investigative powers at the trial stage.Supplementary investigation by these subjects could make up the insufficient of theinvestigations by the public security authorities and lawyers. Therefore, we should implementthe Social Investigation mode that the Criminal investigation organ implements theinvestigation mainly, and the procuratorial organ and the court implement the investigationsupplementary.