On the morning of October 27, the Zhejiang Provincial Procuratorate held a press conference with the theme of "Less Arrest, Caution in Prosecution, and Prudent Detention, and Promoting the Governance of The Source of Litigation". Kong Zhang, member of the party leading group of the provincial procuratorate and deputy procurator general, briefed the procuratorial organs of Zhejiang Province on the implementation of the work of "less arrest, cautious prosecution and cautious detention"; He Dehui, deputy director of the first procuratorial department of the provincial procuratorate, released 8 typical cases, and answered reporters' questions with Wang Xiafang, director of the fourth procuratorial department, and Cai Yongcheng, deputy director of the ninth procuratorial department, and Zhou Xiaowei, director of the propaganda and education department, presided over the press conference.
In recent years, the procuratorial organs of Zhejiang Province have taken the initiative to adapt to the new situation and new tasks of criminal justice work, adhered to an objective and fair stance and the judicial concept of "modesty, prudence and goodwill", conscientiously implemented the major deployment of the central and provincial party committees to govern the source of litigation, and achieved positive results with the goal of building the "most powerful demonstration province for legal supervision". From January to September this year, the province accepted 29,789 cases of 43,583 people for examination and arrest, and did not approve the arrest of 16,714 people in accordance with the law, with a non-arrest rate of 37.99%, ranking third in the country from high to low; 75,622 cases of 115896 people were accepted for examination and prosecution, and 25,180 people were not prosecuted according to law, with a non-prosecution rate of 26.83%, ranking second in the country from high to low; and the pre-trial detention rate was 39.56%.
"In recent years, the structure of criminal cases in Zhejiang Province has undergone tremendous changes, the proportion of heavy sentence cases has declined, and cases with sentences of more than five years in prison account for only 8% of the prosecution sentences," Kong Zhang said, "With the major changes in the criminal structure, the implementation of the plea leniency system and the improvement of relevant supervision capabilities, there is a realistic basis for the implementation of the criminal justice policy of 'less arrest, cautious prosecution and prudent detention'." ”
Targeted force, precise protection and equal protection according to law
"Special thanks to the prosecutor, you gave me a second life, so that I can go to college, and now that I have worked, I will work and live well." During the phone call, Xiao Tian (pseudonym) expressed his gratitude. A few years ago, Xiaotian, a high school student, had a conflict with his mother and ran to a food store to vent his emotions and rob him. Through investigation, the Haining Municipal Procuratorate learned that Xiaotian's father died suddenly, her mother was busy with work, and Xiaotian's personality, who had just entered the first year of high school, became very rebellious. In view of the fact that Xiao Tian was a minor at the time of the crime, his conduct was an attempted crime, and his attitude of admitting guilt was sincere, after a comprehensive assessment, the court declared him conditionally non-prosecution. During the test period, Xiaotian performed well, took the college entrance examination and successfully passed the school of his choice, and also actively participated in public welfare activities, and after the expiration of the test period, the hospital made a decision not to prosecute him. This case was selected as a Conditional Non-Prosecution Guiding Case by the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
"Adhering to the policy of 'less arrest, cautious prosecution and caution' is conducive to avoiding cross-infection and re-offending of juveniles involved in crimes in the process of detention and imprisonment, and can also minimize the negative label effect and help juveniles to rehabilitate and re-enter society." Cai Yongcheng introduced. In recent years, procuratorial organs in Zhejiang Province have made full use of statutory means such as non-approval of arrest, non-prosecution, and review of the necessity of detention for juveniles suspected of minor criminal offenses such as theft, fraud, robbery, or injury, and if they are indeed first-time offenders, occasional offenders, or lured into committing crimes, to educate, reform, and rescue them to the greatest extent possible. From January to September this year, the procuratorial organs in the province made a total of 816 and 1255 juveniles involved in crimes not to approve the arrest and non-prosecution, and made conditional non-prosecution decisions for 400 minors, with the non-arrest and non-prosecution rates of 57.5% and 49.4% respectively, higher than the provincial criminal non-arrest and non-prosecution rate of 19.5 and 22.6 percentage points in the same period.
In terms of strengthening the judicial protection of private enterprises, the provincial procuratorate combined with the judicial policy of "less arrest, cautious prosecution and prudent detention" to promote the compliance work of enterprises and deepen the governance of the source of litigation for enterprise-related crimes. In October 2020, the Zhejiang Provincial Procuratorate took the lead in deploying a pilot project of criminal compliance legal supervision of enterprise economic crimes at the level of provincial procuratorial organs across the country. "We will integrate compliance work throughout the entire process of case review, arrest review and prosecution, organically integrate with the judicial policy of 'less arrest, cautious prosecution and prudent detention' and the plea work mechanism, and promptly change the compulsory detention measures for the responsible persons of eligible enterprises involved in the case in accordance with the law." We also guide enterprises to carry out compliance construction, take compliance results as an important reference for procuratorial organs to handle cases, examine those who are qualified, and do not arrest, prosecute, and put forward probation and sentencing recommendations for relevant personnel in accordance with the law. Wang Xiafang said. Up to now, the Zhejiang Provincial Procuratorate has carried out compliance work on 34 cases involving enterprises, and after public hearings, the enterprises involved in 6 cases have been not prosecuted, effectively combining the judicial policy of "less arrest, caution and caution" to promote corporate compliance work.
Optimize the mechanism and coordinate to promote the "less arrest, more litigation and prudent detention"
In 2020, when reviewing the prostitution case of Pan X and others organizing prostitution, the procuratorate of Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone found that Pan X and others may be sentenced to a sentence of ten years or more in prison, and refuse to admit guilt, there is a risk of collusion or destruction or falsification of evidence, and during the period of release on guarantee pending further investigation, they do not punch cards on the "non-bondage code" APP on time, violating the relevant regulatory provisions during the non-custodial period, and are comprehensively assessed as zero points by the "non-custodial code". The court decided to arrest Pan Moumou in accordance with the law.
In recent years, in order to effectively promote the implementation of the criminal justice policy of "less arrest, cautious prosecution and cautious detention", the procuratorial organs of Zhejiang Province have continuously innovated mechanisms and digital empowerment. For example, the Hangzhou area developed the "non-custodial code" as an intelligent supervision system for non-detainees, set up a "green, yellow, red" three-level supervision code, and expanded the application of non-custodial supervision measures through scientific and technological means such as out-of-office reminders, early warnings of violations, regular punch cards, and irregular spot checks. Up to now, the number of people applying the "non-bondage code" in Hangzhou has reached 19,138, and none of them have left the custody. The Procuratorate of Zhejiang Province has incorporated the "non-custodial code" into the integrated case-handling system, promoted the application of large-scale scenarios for the supervision of non-detainees, and effectively reduced the detention rate.
At the same time, the procuratorial organs of Zhejiang Province have continuously refined the criteria for no arrest and no prosecution. The Provincial Procuratorate, together with the Provincial Public Security Department and the Provincial Court, has successively made detailed provisions on the handling of minor criminal cases such as dangerous driving, theft, intentional injury, and gambling, and standardized the standards for no arrest and no prosecution. The Political and Legal Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee led the Public Prosecutor's Office and Law to jointly issue the Minutes of the Meeting on Several Issues Concerning the Handling of "Drunk Driving" Cases", which gives lenient treatment to dangerous driving behaviors with minor circumstances, low blood alcohol content, and no serious circumstances, fully reflecting the combination of leniency and severity, and realizing the governance of the source of litigation.
For those who need to be given administrative punishments after being not prosecuted, the procuratorial organs of Zhejiang Province have strengthened the connection between executions and done a good job in the second half of the article "less arrest, cautious prosecution and cautious detention". Procuratorates at all levels in Zhejiang Province, in conjunction with local governments, have introduced mechanisms for linking executions, further standardizing mechanisms for proposing, handling, and feedback administrative punishment procedures, and achieving a seamless connection between criminal handling and administrative punishment. Since January last year, procuratorial organs in the province have issued 1,298 procuratorial opinions on those that need to be given administrative punishments, sanctions, or confiscated illegal gains. Procuratorial organs also comprehensively use procuratorial suggestions, case summaries, similar case studies and annual white papers to provide decision-making references for party committees and governments and promote social governance, and a total of 472 social governance procuratorial suggestions have been issued by the criminal prosecution lines of procuratorial organs in the province.
Strengthen supervision and enhance the judicial capacity of modern civilization
"Decentralization" in the reform of the judicial responsibility system, "centralization" in the reform of the integration of arrest and prosecution, and "consultation" in the plea leniency system all mean that the risk of judicial responsibility and integrity of criminal procurators has increased sharply. He Dehui said, "In the process of implementing the principle of 'less arrest, cautious prosecution and prudent detention', we have promoted procurators to standardize the use of power and handle cases according to law through external supervision methods such as prosecution and defense consultation, public hearings, and strengthening internal supervision and restraint."
This year, the Provincial Procuratorate took the lead in jointly issuing the Opinions on Deepening Procuratorial-Legal Cooperation to Build a New Type of Procuratorial-Legal Relationship with the Provincial Department of Justice and the Provincial Lawyers Association, building a mechanism of "procuratorial-legal coordination in the whole process of arrest-prosecution-trial", giving full play to the active role of lawyers in providing substantive legal assistance, equal sentencing consultation, and promoting the service of judgments and interest lawsuits. Procuratorial organs throughout the province have also paid attention to optimizing the method of review in accordance with the requirements of "hearings should be heard", making good use of public reviews and detention hearings, and strengthening the attributes of judicial review of arrests, so as to openly promote justice. Since January last year, procuratorial organs across the province have held a total of 663 public hearings on non-arrest and no prosecution.
In addition to strengthening external supervision, procuratorial organs in Zhejiang Province have actively built an internal supervision and restraint system with clear powers and responsibilities, conscientiously implemented the Supreme People's Procuratorate's "Measures for the Supervision and Management of People's Procuratorates Handling Plea Cases", strengthened the judicial responsibility system for procurators on posts, and the supervision and control duties of department heads and chief procurators to ensure the quality of case handling.
The implementation of the criminal justice policy of "less arrest, cautious prosecution and cautious detention" is not a matter for the procuratorial organs alone, and it requires the joint efforts of all the departments of public prosecution and law, and even more the support and affirmation of the party committee and the government and all sectors of society. "The procuratorial organs of Zhejiang Province will further establish the position of rule of law, adhere to the procuratorial responsibility, use procuratorial wisdom, and work with political and legal units and all sectors of society to promote the implementation of the judicial policy of 'less arrest, cautious prosecution and cautious detention', and provide a strong legal guarantee for high-quality development and construction of a common prosperity demonstration zone!" Kong Zhang said.