Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2013

 

The Pareto 80/20 Rule in Law: A Quantitative Analysis Based on the Hearing of Cases with Guilty Plea

(Abstract)

 

Li Bensen

 

In the legal area, especially in the dispute settlement area such as litigation, the judiciary can optimize the allocation of judicial resources by streamlining the simple majority and optimizing the complex minority. Streamlining the simple majority by the judiciary is not to streamline the majority per se, nor is it to neglect the simple majority intentionally. Rather, it aims to reduce the marginal costs of judicial activities, improve judicial efficiency and promote judicial justice in accordance with the principle of simplifying procedures instead of rights, while guaranteeing the basic rights of legal subjects. Our quantitative analysis based on cases with guilty plea suggests that in the criminal judicial area, the Chinese resource allocation mechanism in which the complex minority is optimized through streamlining the simple majority still leaves much to be improved. To implement the summary procedures of cases with guilty plea as identified in the 2012 Criminal Procedure Law, it is essential to guarantee the lawyer’s assistance to the defendant, and to improve the judicial efficiency of a number of links such as investigation, prosecution and judgment, so as to allocate criminal judicial resources and promote judicial justice in a more scientific and effective way.