Research On The Issue Of Duty Lawyer’s Participation In The System Of Lenient Sentence For Confession And Acceptance Of Punishment

In the system of lenient sentence for confession and acceptance of punishment,the role of duty lawyer,who plays the role of safeguarding the human rights of the prosecuted party,balancing public power and effectively promoting the substantive and efficient operation of the procedure of lenient sentence for confession and acceptance of punishment,is quite extraordinary.However,in actual cases,the substantial role of duty lawyer fails to meet expectations due to many reasons,and there are still many problems such as the time difference of duty lawyers taking part in the procedure of lenient sentence for confession and acceptance of punishment,duty lawyer’s job being limited to provide basic legal advice and answers,the effect of duty lawyer’s substantive participation in sentencing negotiation being not obvious,competency level of duty lawyer’s team being varied.In this regard,from the perspective of legislation,first is to further clarify the time point of the duty lawyer’s intervention and grant the case-handling organ the right of primary inquiry,that is,such organ needs to inform the prosecuted party of the right to get legal aid,so that the time point of duty lawyer’s intervention can be move forward and the duty lawyer can intervene in the procedure of lenient sentence for confession and acceptance of punishment as soon as possible,in order to ensure that the rights and interests of the prosecuted party can be ensured in a timely manner.Second is to give the duty lawyer relevant litigation rights and powers,such as the right to be present,the right to read files,the right of compulsory defense and the right to propose the start of procedure.Granting relevant litigation rights and powers to duty lawyers enables them to provide the prosecuted party with substantial legal aid in sufficient ways.Third is to establish the sentencing negotiation mechanism,so that the duty lawyer can participate in the sentencing negotiation carried out by the public prosecution organ in a substantive way,in order to avoid the phenomenon of “witness” and ensure that the prosecuted party actually enjoys the “benefits” of the procedure of lenient sentence for confession and acceptance of punishment.From the perspective of management,first is to establish the access and withdrawal mechanism.A team of duty lawyers with high quality will be built through graded access,special selection,regular training,strict withdrawal and other ways.Second is to establish the service evaluation mechanism.The supervision of quality and result of duty lawyer’s job will be enhanced through paying the parties concerned a return visit,cross-evaluation of files and supervision and inspection of judicial administrative organs.Third is to establish the service docking mechanism through the whole process.The information sharing channel between the public security bureau,procuratorate,court,justice bureau and lawyers will be opened and the efficiency of duty lawyers will be improved by establishing an integrated joint office platform.Fourth is to explore and improve the financial guarantee mechanism.Necessary financial guarantee will be provided for duty lawyers to perform their duties by increasing the total amount of funding,setting up differentiated subsidy standards,establishing a performance reward system and dynamic adjustment system.