Supreme People's Court Maps Future Judicial Reforms in Five Year Reform Program

February 3, 2006

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) released its five year court reform program (translated by CECC staff) for 2004 to 2008 on October 26, 2005. (The full text of the document did not become available until December 2005.) The focus of the program suggests that one of the top priorities for judicial authorities is criminal law reforms, and that authorities may also address some institutional problems facing the judiciary. At the same time, however, the program also includes proposals to increase official supervision of judges and does not change basic Communist Party control over the courts.

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) released its five year court reform program (translated by CECC staff) for 2004 to 2008 on October 26, 2005. (The full text of the document did not become available until December 2005.) The focus of the program suggests that one of the top priorities for judicial authorities is criminal law reforms, and that authorities may also address some institutional problems facing the judiciary. At the same time, however, the program also includes proposals to increase official supervision of judges and does not change basic Communist Party control over the courts.

Criminal Law Reforms

Reforms to Judicial Review of Death Penalty Cases
The program provides that the Supreme People's Court will consolidate and reclaim the power of uniform review over all death penalty cases. The SPC has already taken steps to increase the number of personnel assigned to handle the increased caseload.

The program also requires that Chinese courts conduct hearings on appeals of death penalty cases after 2006. After issuing the program, the SPC subsequently issued a circular (translated by CECC staff) on December 7 detailing procedures for these hearings. Since January 1, provincial high courts in Shanghai, Beijing, and Tianjin municipalities, and Hainan province, have announced that they are conducting hearings, according to a January 23 Legal Daily article and China Court articles dated January 20, 23, and 26, respectively.

Reforms To Strengthen Protections For Criminal Defendants
The program provides that officials should reject the use of evidence obtained through torture and other illegal means. This issue generated significant domestic and international criticism in 2005, as noted in Section III(b) of the Commission's 2005 Annual Report, on the Rights of Criminal Suspects and Defendants. The Hebei provincial government has since issued an opinion prohibiting torture to obtain evidence from criminal suspects. However, only the Sichuan provincial government has acted to exclude illegally obtained evidence from criminal trials. The program also provides that judicial officials should take steps to adopt the principle of presumption of innocence.

Institutional Reforms

Changes to Court Jurisdiction
According to the program, Chinese judicial authorities will support reforms to the jurisdiction of provincial high people's courts (HPCs) so that they only handle cases involving general questions of law. Currently, HPCs possess both first instance trial jurisdiction for certain cases and automatic appellate jurisdiction for cases tried by subordinate intermediate people's courts (IPCs).

The program also suggests that Chinese judicial authorities will move towards a division of jurisdiction between basic people's courts (BPCs), IPCs, and HPCs based not only on the amount of monetary compensation at stake but also on the physical places of residence of the parties.

Reforms to Retrial Procedures and Requests For Advisory Opinions
The program targets for reform both the retrial (zaishen) and advisory opinion (qingshi) systems. Extensive use of retrial procedures undermines the finality of court decisions. Lower courts also frequently rely on internal advisory requests to higher courts to seek advance guidance on how to decide cases, which undermines judicial fairness. For more information, see Section V(c) on China's Judicial System in the Commission's 2005 Report, and the corresponding Section V(d) in the Commission's 2004 Annual Report.

The program suggests that court officials will reduce court discretion to initiate retrial proceedings and advisory opinions independently, unless plaintiffs and defendants approve. The program also suggests that courts will attempt to limit the of advisory opinions to general questions of law rather than determinations of facts.

Internal Reforms

Reforms to Court Financing
The program directs court officials to explore national financing for the court system and including court finances within provincial and national financial systems. Local government control over court finances limits the independence of Chinese courts because such control makes courts dependent for support on the same government officials who appear before them as defendants.

Reforms to Adjudication Committees
Adjudication committees comprising court presidents and other administrative personnel are the highest authority in each court. These committees can serve as vehicles for external and internal actors to substitute their wishes for the decisions of trial judges, a practice which challenges judicial independence, as discussed in Section V(c) of the Commission's 2005 Annual Report on China's Judicial System, and Section V(c), "The Judicial System," in the Commission's 2003 Annual Report.

The program allows HPCs and IPCs to establish specialized adjudication committees to handle criminal and civil/administrative cases. It also instructs courts to reform adjudication committees procedures to use hearings, rather than closed-door meetings, to decide cases.

Improvements in Juvenile Justice
The program stresses the need to improve the juvenile criminal system and procedures for handling civil cases affecting the rights of juveniles. It provides for the establishment of experimental youth courts in selected cities.

Supervision of the Judiciary

Allowing Local Prosecutors to Participate in Court Adjudication Committees
The program directs courts to explore systems in which representatives of the local procuratorate can participate in judicial adjudication committees in courts of the same rank. Since adjudication committees are the highest authorities in each court, and prosecutors represent the government, this proposal raises issues of judicial independence and possible conflicts of interest.

Implementing National People's Congress (NPC) Decisions Regarding the People's Assessors System
The program directs courts to implement fully previous NPC directives regarding the establishment of a system of people's assessors, who are ordinary citizens selected by court personnel as lay assessors. In 2005, Chinese authorities launched an effort to regularize this practice. Chinese authorities have promoted this practice as an anti-corruption method that allows popular supervision of the judiciary.

Reforms to Local People's Congress (LPC) Supervision of Courts
The program directs local officials to strengthen court systems for receiving criticism and recommendations from LPCs. The ability of LPCs to intervene in and supervise court decisions allows parties a method of applying external pressure on courts to decide cases in their favor. For more information, see Section V(d), China's Judicial System, of the Commission's 2004 Annual Report.

Increased Use of Responsibility Systems
The program also calls on local officials to strengthen the use of responsibility systems to supervise and manage the judiciary. These systems link the career advancement of judges to specific criteria, such as case closure ratios or rates of reversal on appeal. The program also calls on officials to standardize and strengthen the evaluation system used to assess judicial performance.

The explicit reference to responsibility systems in the five year program parallels a requirement in new national regulations on citizen petitioning that the State Council issued in 2005 and language in a November 2, 2005, SPC announcement requiring courts to respond to citizen petitions. This parallel requirement suggests that central authorities are increasing their top-down management of officials across multiple government organizations.

Party-Led Reforms To Address Social Unrest

Strengthening Rural Courts
The program directs judicial officials to improve the funding and professionalization of people's tribunals, the township (and lowest) level of the Chinese judiciary. Supreme People's Court President Xiao Yang linked such improvements to core Party goals of establishing a "harmonious society" and increasing the Party's "governance capacity," according to a January 24 China Court article. In December 2005, the general offices of the State Council and Communist Party issued a joint opinion setting the reduction of the number of "mass incidents" such as strikes, marches, demonstrations, and collective petitions as a priority for 2006.

Strengthening the Enforcement of Court Judgments
The five year program includes extensive discussion on the need to address non-enforcement of court judgments. While the program contains few details, a January 23 Party circular suggests that a Party-led campaign will be the principal vehicle for such reforms, and is tied to official concern about mounting social unrest.