Abstract:The system of imposing lenient punishments on those confessing to their crimes and accepting punishments is a concrete manifestation of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law in deepening the reform of the judicial system as well as an important measure for building a socialist system of the rule of law with Chinese characteristics. This criminal justice system with distinctive Chinese characteristics should be observed and studied from both vertical and horizontal perspectives. From the horizontal perspective of the world’s systems, it has unique characteristics of judicial philosophical value orientation and institutional construction. From the vertical historical perspective of the four revolutions in criminal procedure, the development of the criminal procedure system has been basically guided by the theory of checks and balances between power and authority and between power and rights, and progressed gradually around the expansion of the right to defense and the limitation of public power. The absence of the right to silence, the inadequacy of the defense’s right to know, and the lack of effective defense are against the principle that the system of negotiation between prosecution and defense must be constructed simultaneously with the systems of discovery of evidence and the right to silence protection. From the perspectives of system and integrity, currently China has only taken the first step in reforming the system of negotiation between prosecution and defense, namely “further simplifying the simple”. To enable every person in the judicial case to feel fairness and justice, it urgently needs to take the second step of “making the complicated even more complicated”, so as to accelerate the construction of a fair, efficient and authoritative socialist judicial system and put into practice the concept of fairness and justice in Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law.

Key Words: the system of imposing lenient punishments on those confessing to their crimes and accepting punishments, world vision; law of litigation; Chinese characteristics

Author: JI Xiangde, a research fellow at CASS Institute of Law and a professor at the Law School of the University of CASS;

Source: 3 (2024) Tribune of Political Science and Law.