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Mai Yujun: Many lawyers are reluctant to handle criminal cases, and even today, after the concept of the rule of law is more widespread and the system is reformed, criminal defense lawyers still face many difficulties: social prejudice, difficulty in meeting with people, difficulty in obtaining evidence, difficulty in reading case files, and so on. But there are still some lawyers who are undeterred and eventually break through the barriers.
Author=Gao MingxuanSource=WeChat public account | Chao Lu Zhi original question = Gao Mingxuan: Why are lawyers reluctant to handle criminal cases?
Original source = Yan Da Yuan Zhao
Gao Mingxuan is a people's educator and a well-known criminal law scholar, and participated in the drafting, discussion, promulgation and revision of the first Criminal Code of New China. Honorary Dean of the Institute of Criminal Legal Sciences of Beijing Normal University, the first batch of honorary first-class professors and doctoral supervisors of Chinese Renmin University, and the honorary director of the Criminal Legal Science Research Center of Chinese Renmin University, a national key research base. In January 1984, with the approval of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, he became the first doctoral supervisor of criminal law in mainland China.
Lawyers are the force of the rule of law, the force of upholding justice for citizens, and the protectors of the people's rights.
Democratic rule of law is inseparable from lawyers, and without the participation of lawyers, democratic rule of law will lag behind, so democratic rule of law is inseparable from lawyers, and this force cannot be ignored.
In the early days of reform and opening up, the number of lawyers was small, and now it has reached more than 400,000 (the latest data in 2024, 700,000+), but China is so big, more than 400,000 I don't think it is enough.
Especially in some areas where the old and the young are poor, the strength of lawyers is relatively weak, and there are even some counties where there are really few good lawyers. As an important force in the country's rule of law, as an important force in upholding fairness and justice, and as an important force in protecting people's rights, I think our lawyers still need to develop, and more than 400,000 people are too few.
There are also some prejudices against lawyers in society, especially some public powers, which are some remnants of history.
In the fifties, there were a lot of lawyers, and it was very simple to think that these lawyers were speaking for the bad guys, as if they were arguing for the defendants, as if they were arguing for the bad guys, which was a very simplistic way of saying that caused a miserable fate among lawyers.
Why Lawyers Defend the Bad Guys
The notion that lawyers suffered some injustices in the early stages of Chinese society has been left behind, and the lawyer system has been abolished all the way, and this remnant has an impact on the present day.
Nowadays, from the perspective of public power, some people often do not attach importance to lawyers, or even discriminate against lawyers, and some even feel that lawyers are not their own people, but a kind of alien force, which is completely wrong.
Everyone knows that there is a saying called the legal community, and the public procuratorate and law are all together, why are lawyers not?
It's just that the division of labor is different, and the goal is to build a democratic country under the rule of law, and the goal is the same.
A lawyer is just his profession, from a professional point of view, he is not a public security, nor a procuratorate, nor a court, he is a lawyer, and a lawyer plays the role of a lawyer, and for a case, all aspects are indispensable.
Of course, there must be a judge and a prosecutor for criminal defense, but it is not possible to have a lawyer without it.
In this case, from the general philosophical and logical point of view, as a judge, you also need to listen to the lawyer's arguments.
If you don't listen, can your case be fair? Can it be just? Can it be done accurately?
In some cases, lawyers have not been able to defend themselves, and in many places there is a lack of lawyers, and many lawyers are unable to participate.
Of course, there are some people who are poor and cannot afford to hire a lawyer, and there is some legal aid that can be done, but legal aid is also limited.
Access to Justice for the Poor
Therefore, as you all know, the proportion of lawyers who actually appear in court to defend is not large, and many criminal defenses do not have a lawyer. Even if there were, there are many difficulties right now.
Lawyers are reluctant to handle criminal cases, there is no such problem in foreign countries, but we all have this problem, because in the field of criminal defense, there are many people whose concepts have not changed, so lawyers encounter all kinds of difficulties.
Lawyers have encountered many difficulties in handling cases, such as difficulty in meeting with people, collecting evidence, and reading case files.
The public authorities do not provide many facilities for lawyers, but on the contrary, they hinder and make things difficult at every turn.
Of course, many improvements have been made in the revision of criminal defense and the revision of the Lawyers Law, but they are not in place.
Therefore, I feel very important about criminal defense, and I feel very respectful and sympathetic to the lawyers who are engaged in criminal defense, and I feel that they have overcome a lot of difficulties and broken through a lot of barriers to get this case down.
We have had a lot of positive experiences, and many of our defenses have been very successful, so that in some cases, due to the change of lawyers, the case has turned around and achieved the greatest success, and justice has been done, so that all parties are very satisfied.
Lawyers are the force of the rule of law, the force of upholding justice for citizens, and the protectors of the people's rights.
If there is something unfair, we will fight for it, and strive to make our lawyer's status continue to improve.
We should respect, support, and protect lawyers, and I am very much in favor of it, and I also think that our lawyers should be like this, and lawyers themselves should stand up and have the courage to move forward, because we are the force of the rule of law, and the rule of law cannot do without us.
Attached: Part of Mr. Gao's book list
1. Gao Mingxuan and Ma Chang, eds., Criminal Law, Peking University Press, Higher Education Press, 2022 edition.
2. Gao Mingxuan, The Birth, Development and Improvement of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, Peking University Press, 2012.
3. Gao Mingxuan, Monograph on Criminal Law, Higher Education Press.
4. Gao Mingxuan: Principles of Criminal Law (Volumes I, II and III), Chinese Renmin University Press.
The article only represents the author's personal views and positions, "Annotated Book of Criminal Law (Third Edition)"
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Professor He Qinhua recommends: Robert Stevens has said that the history of the development of the legal profession is also the history of law schools, and the concept of law—rather the idea of law—reflects the subtle details of a country's politics and society, shapes legal education, and in turn is shaped by it. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to explore and sort out legal education, that is, the history of legal education institutions, in a down-to-earth and conscientious manner. No More: A Chronicle of Chinese Law Schools has done its part in this regard. The book traces several episodes of the development of legal education in China over the past 100 years, including historical facts, research, analysis, and questions, which are worth reading.
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