The direction of the judicial reform

The upcoming judicial reform is the last guarantee of justice and fairness. Experience indicates it is much more difficult and takes a longer time to establish a rule-by-law system than a system ruled by men, says an article in Caijing magazine. Excerpts:

The Supreme People's Court of China released two five-year reform plans recently, clarifying principles, goals and tasks for the different stages of judicial reforms. The reform of the first five years is mainly aimed at the model and organization of trials.

The second five-year reform is to enhance legal proceedings and execution processes.

For example, legal authorities will reform the approval system of death sentences. The Supreme People's Court of China will have the authority to review death penalties, while the second trial of all death sentences must be carried out in court. All these changes will effectively protect the defendants' rights.

There should also be a clear labor distribution among authorities when it comes to case registrations, trials, supervision and executions and they should work independently from each other.

Meanwhile, the second five-year reform will establish a National Judicial Examination system to improve the professionalism of the judicial staff.

Although there are many difficulties to overcome in China's judicial reform, legal authorities should be determined to achieve breakthroughs because any constructive changes will be translated into powerful guarantees of human rights.

Translated by Li Yang