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As a bridge and link between the court and society, people's jurors not only help promote judicial democracy , and will also help deepen society’s understanding and trust in judicial fairness. What is the current implementation status of the people's assessor system in our country? What problems are faced? The reporter went to the grassroots courts in Shandong, Shanxi and Yunnan to investigate the practice of the people's assessor system.
Wang Fengxia, People’s Assessor of Jinan Zhangqiu City Court
“We are here, and supervision is there”
Wearing a black uniform and a sign on the chest, at first glance Up, 57-year-old Wang Fengxia is no different from a court employee.
"These clothes and name badges are uniformly customized by the court, but the judge's name badge is round, and ours is rectangular." Wang Fengxia explained with a smile, and stretched out her fingers to count. I have been a people's assessor for 9 years. In May 2005, after a series of procedures including recommendation by the unit, joint inspections by the court, the People's Congress, and the Bureau of Justice, appointment by the Municipal People's Congress and announcement to the public, Wang Fengxia and 54 other citizens from various industries became the people of Zhangqiu City. The first batch of people's jurors in the court.
Wang Fengxia used to work at the Zhangqiu Women's Federation, where her main job was to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of women and children. Over the years, she has been in and out of court many times and participated in the deliberations of many cases. Which case to participate in is generally chosen randomly. The court will notify Wang Fengxia about a month in advance and invite her to come and review the case file. During the court hearing, Wang Fengxia must participate in the entire process, discuss with the judge, and put forward her own opinions when she has any objections.
From the beginning, Wang Fengxia was unsure about what to do as a people's assessor. In retrospect, she felt a little embarrassed because she was basically "accompanying the trial". When reviewing cases, she often simply echoes the judge's opinion.
Things are different now. After years of experience, Wang Fengxia has become "experienced" and has participated in jury work in more than 600 cases. What gave her the greatest sense of accomplishment was that her opinions were adopted by the collegial panel.
In the Zhangqiu Municipal People’s Court, the People’s Assessors have a “People’s Assessor’s Home” where they can work and communicate. The court will conduct large-scale centralized training once or twice a year, and there are also some individual trainings in normal times.
In the past few years, due to factors such as inconvenient transportation and imperfect operating mechanisms, the participation rate of people's assessors was once low. But in the past two years, the situation has changed significantly. In 2013, nearly 5,000 people's jurors participated in the 2,500 ordinary procedure cases handled by the Zhangqiu Municipal People's Court.
Liu Yuqing, President of the Zhangqiu Municipal People's Court, said that in accordance with the requirements of the Shandong Provincial Higher People's Court, by the end of this year, the province's courts will achieve a trial participation rate of 30% of people's jurors in intermediate courts and 80% in grassroots courts. % target. "In the Zhangqiu Municipal People's Court, the participation rate of people's assessors in ordinary procedural cases has reached 100%. We have positioned the people's assessors in trial supervision and given full play to their role. It should be said that the original intention of the system design has been achieved."< /p>
With the increase in the number of people's jurors in the court, Wang Fengxia's chances of being selected will no longer be as high as in the past, but her work has not been reduced much. After retiring for many years, she became an "office worker" again, sharing the daily management of the people's assessors. "We are not managed by the court, but are relatively autonomous. Only in this way can we maintain the independence and supervisory role of the people's jurors."
In order to ensure that the people's jurors perform their duties, the Zhangqiu Municipal People's Court specially invited Deputies to the National People's Congress observe the court hearings of people's jurors and evaluate their role. People's jurors whose participation rate is not high or who have violations of laws and disciplines will be dismissed by the National People's Congress in accordance with relevant procedures.
“People’s assessors are the bridge and link between the court and society. Although they do not wear legal robes, they represent tens of millions of people and can make people feel the fairness and impartiality of the law.” Wang Fengxia believes that although people's assessors are not from the legal profession, their biggest advantage is that they are familiar with society and can easily contact the masses. "We are here, and the supervision is there. If you have this status, you must be worthy of your conscience!" (Reporter Bian Minde)
Chen Jianyun, People's Assessor of Wuhua District Court in Kunming
"Mediating the jury deliberations, "I did everything"
"The first time I was on trial, it was a robbery case. I didn't dare to look at the defendant in the trial seat, and I almost didn't speak during the entire trial." Chen Jianyun, the people's juror of Wuhua District People's Court in Kunming, Yunnan, still remembers the first jury.
Since being appointed as a people's assessor in May 2005, Chen Jianyun is about to serve two full terms. Chen Jianyun was familiar with legal terms such as "subjective aspects of crime", "joint liability" and "statutory leniency".
“The work is similar to that of a clerk, including service delivery, mediation, jury review, and collegial discussions, everything.” Chen Jianyun said, “I have participated in the handling of more than 2,300 cases, on average more than one case a day.”
Chen Jianyun is one of the 22 "sitting" people's jurors in the Wuhua District People's Court. In addition to the people's jurors who are "on duty", the Wuhua District People's Court currently has 25 people's jurors who are not "on duty".
"Since they all have their own jobs, it is troublesome to coordinate time to participate in case trials. Now we often have to make appointments with non-working people's jurors two or three months in advance for court hearings." Ye, Director of the People's Assessor Office of Wuhua District People's Court Wei told reporters.
“The special funding for people’s assessors in the region is 190,000 yuan, plus part of the transfer funds from the central government, which basically just meets the needs of the capitation fee.” Ye Wei said.
The result of low subsidies is the aging of the age structure of people's assessors. "There is no one under 30 years old, the average age is nearly 50 years old, and there are more than a dozen who come back to serve as full-time jurors after retirement." Ye Wei said.
“The biggest problem is awareness.” Qiao Yang, director of the People’s Assessor Office of the Kunming Intermediate People’s Court, said, “Take funding security as an example, it is only about 10,000 yuan per year in some counties.” Although the financial The Ministry of Finance has issued regulations requiring special funds for people's assessors to be clearly listed in the fiscal budget, but in reality they are often packaged with other court funds.
“In practice, people’s jurors are ‘selected but not used’, ‘accompanied without trial’ and ‘joined without deliberating’ to varying degrees.” Qiao Yang told reporters that because many part-time jurors It is difficult to coordinate time, and some courts are reluctant to use it; and some part-time jurors have refused jury duty many times in a row, which also makes the court reluctant to use it.
According to Qiao Yang, Kunming is currently working on doubling the number of people's jurors, but some district and county courts have difficulty finding suitable candidates. "People who are capable, enthusiastic, and want to do it don't have time, and retirees who have time may not be physically competent." Qiao Yang pointed out that some off-duty jurors also regard serving as a people's juror only as an honor and not seriously. Regarding the performance of their duties, Kunming City has issued special regulations requiring people's assessors to participate in the trial of at least five cases every year.
“From the original intention of establishing the people’s assessor system, there is no overemphasis on the legal professionalism of jurors. What is more important is to provide opinions on case trials from the perspective of ordinary people.” Qiao Yang said, every All people's jurors have undergone strict procedural inspections and received off-the-job training before taking up their posts. "During the training, we emphasized that people's jurors should express their opinions from the perspective of 'emotional' and 'reasonable' and do not need to worry too much about legal expertise. "Not enough."
"Some people's jurors often choose to follow the crowd because they are not confident in their legal knowledge and are afraid of being laughed at if they speak unprofessionally, or even affecting the trial of the case," Qiao Yang said. To give full play to their role, the Kunming Intermediate People's Court even stipulated that people's jurors must express their opinions first, "but the implementation situation is not ideal." (Reporter Yang Wenming)
Li Liping, people's juror of Taiyuan Xinghualing District Court< /p>
“You must be worthy of the signature on the judgment.”
“How can you be called a juror if you only serve as a juror but don’t do the trial?” Li Liping, a people’s juror at the Xinghualing District Court in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, believes that, "A jury, as the name suggests, is to accompany the judge in the trial, and the focus must be on the 'trial'."
Li Liping, who has a sharp personality and a quick talk, is the chairman of the Women's Federation of Dadongguan Street, Xinghualing District. She said that she had served on more than 20 jurors throughout 2013, and the judge she "partnered" with in each case attached great importance to the jurors' opinions. During the trial, she would usually take the initiative to solicit her opinions or ask her to ask questions. After the trial, Before the verdict is pronounced, the case will be actively discussed with the jurors.
“During the jury training at the end of last year, some people reported that the judge did not pay attention to the jurors and did not give them a chance to speak.” Li Liping said without hesitation, “I refuted it at the time. You can’t blame the judge for not giving you a chance. The law gives you You have to take the initiative to exercise your rights and be worthy of your signature on the judgment."
The rights of jurors mentioned by Li Liping were implemented in the "National People's Congress Standing Committee's Notice on Improving the People's Juror System" which came into effect in May 2005. The "Decision" clearly stipulates that people's assessors participate in the trial activities of the People's Court in accordance with the law and have the same rights as judges except that they are not allowed to serve as presiding judges.
How to achieve equal rights? Lawyer Lin Wei from Jincheng Tongda Law Firm explained, “People’s jurors participate in the collegial panel trial and exercise their voting rights independently on the determination of facts and application of law. Especially when the opinions of the people’s jurors and the judge are not consistent, their opinions should be written in If necessary, the people's assessors can request the collegial panel to submit the case to the judicial committee for discussion."
However, there is inevitably a disconnect between the system provisions and the specific implementation. "Sitting around, showing off, saying nothing, just signing." People with litigation experience once ridiculed the current working conditions of some people's assessors. In this regard, Associate Professor Ling Bin of Peking University Law School, who once served as deputy president of the grassroots court, said frankly, "If the people's assessors only sit and sign, they will not be able to perform their 'trial' function well, and it will be difficult to give full play to the judicial power of the people's assessor system. Democratic role. "
"There is a gap between the original intention of the system design and the practice. The most direct role of the people's jurors is to alleviate the contradiction between the number of cases and the small number of people in the court and ensure that there are enough people in the collegial panel." Lin Wei. analyze.
According to reports, in order to give full play to the important role of the masses in participating in and supervising the judiciary, Taiyuan City, where Li Liping is located, serves as a pilot for the "Doubling Plan". This year, the number of people's jurors in the city will increase from the current 222 to 448. It has become common knowledge to promote judicial democracy by expanding the team of people's assessors.
As the number increases, how can the effectiveness of "review" be better ensured? “The first is to take the initiative, and the second is to learn.
" Li Liping believes that when jurors participate in a case, you have to be on point, so that the judge and the parties can adopt your opinions more. Therefore, daily training and learning of legal literacy is indispensable.
First "train" and then " Jury" is a method used by the local "doubling plan" to improve the performance of people's jurors. This summer, Shanxi University welcomed a group of "students" from all walks of life and of varying ages. They are the newly elected county jurors. "People's assessors come from the masses and analyze and judge cases from social moral standards and other aspects, forming complementary thinking with judges, which is conducive to ascertaining the facts of the case and eliminating the parties' suspicions and misunderstandings about the court trial. . "A people's juror from Fangshan County explained his positioning in the final examination.
Li Liping also felt the same way after many years of juror experience. "The 'trial' of the people's jurors really has to be the same as that of the judge. There is a difference between 'trial' and 'trial'. In addition to legality, jurors pay more attention to reasonable and reasonable application, which can achieve better judicial results. ”
In this regard, Lin Wei expressed his approval, “Although people’s jurors do not have the complete professional thinking of judges, they conduct a natural and rational behavior in the trial of cases, representing the broader public opinion and conscience. It can enhance the public’s recognition of the referee’s conclusion. In addition, people's jurors are naturally connected with the public in all aspects of society. As an important bridge for communication between the court and the public, it is easier to deepen society's understanding and trust in judicial fairness.
"(Reporter Ji Ye)