Social Sciences in China, 2024

Vol. 45 , No. 4, 2024

 

The Improvement of China’s Criminal Legal Aid System: With a Focus on the Legal Aid Law

(Abstract)

 

Chen Yongsheng

 

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the nation’s highest legislative and judicial authorities have undertaken comprehensive reforms of the criminal legal aid system. These reforms have broadened the scope of applicable cases and eligible individuals,   strengthened the financial,  institutional, and personnel  guarantees  for legal aid, and clarified the fact that the appointment of defense counsel by the judicial authorities must not infringe upon the defendants’ right to retain their own counsel. Furthermore, the qualification requirements   for legal aid defense   lawyers   in serious criminal cases have been raised. However, from the perspective of the practical operation of the criminal legal aid system, certain deficiencies remain: the scope of legal aid is still too narrow, funds are still extremely inadequate, the enforcement of the rule that appointed counsel must not intervene in retained counsel remains imperfect, and the qualification requirements for defense attorneys in serious cases are overly vague. These aspects should be revised and improved in the future.

 

Keywords: scope of legal aid, legal aid funds, priority given to retained counsel, admission qualifications for defense counsel