Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.2, 2015

Making Criminal Trials Substantive

(Abstract)

Wang Haiyan

Making criminal trials substantive is a basic requirement of “trial-centered procedural reform.” The core issue is that the defendant’s criminal liability should be resolved at the trial stage. In the course of judicial practice, arrest “forced” trial, conducting the trial primarily through the investigation of case documents and transcripts, making the pre-trial meeting substantive, and making the trial focus on conviction alone, all to some extent weaken criminal trial procedure and make it a mere formality. In the context of constructing a judicial system in which the trial is central and there is parity of authority and responsibility, it is necessary to eliminate the factors weakening the trial system, develop a trial-centered litigation structure, realize the principle of direct oral evidence as a trial method, provide a rational orientation for the function of the pre-trial meeting, fine-tune the trial content of laying equal stress on conviction and sentencing, and make Chinese criminal trial procedure substantive at the level of litigation.