According to legal provisions and judicial practice, the main sources of materials for filing a case include:

(1) Criminal facts discovered by the public security organs or the People’s Procuratorate or criminal clues obtained by themselves

Article 83 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: When the public security organs or the People's Procuratorate discover criminal facts or criminal suspects, they shall file a case for investigation according to their jurisdiction. The public security organs are the country's public security organs and are on the front line of the fight against crime. They may discover crimes during their daily duties and tasks. They may also discover criminal facts and clues during investigation and pre-trial work. These are They are all sources of materials for the public security organs to file cases. As a public prosecution organ, the People's Procuratorate itself also undertakes investigative functions. It may also discover criminal facts during its review and approval of arrests, review and prosecution and other activities. If criminal liability needs to be investigated, the case should be quickly opened and investigated according to the jurisdiction. When national security agencies, security departments within the military, prisons, etc. discover criminal facts or clues while performing their duties, they shall also file a case if they meet the conditions for filing a case.

(2) Reporting or Reporting by Units and Individuals

Article 84, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: Any unit or individual who discovers criminal facts or criminal suspects has the right to They are also obliged to report or report the case to the public security organ, the People's Procuratorate or the People's Court.

Reports or reports from units and individuals are the most important and common source of materials for the public security and judicial organs to decide whether to file a case. Reporting refers to units, individuals and victims who discover that a crime has occurred but are not yet aware of it. The act of reporting to the public security organs, the People's Procuratorate, and the People's Court regardless of who the criminal suspect is; reporting refers to the reporting and disclosure by units and individuals of the criminal facts discovered by them or the criminal suspect to the public security organs, the People's Procuratorate, and the People's Court. behavior. Compared with reporting a case, the reported case facts and evidence materials must be detailed and specific.

Reporting a case or report to the public security and judicial organs is not only a right enjoyed by any unit and individual in accordance with the law, but also an obligation that they should perform in accordance with the law.

(3) Victim’s report or complaint

Article 84, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: The victim has any right to the crime facts or criminal suspects that infringe upon his personal or property rights. The right to report a case or complaint to the public security organ, the People's Procuratorate or the People's Court. Article 88 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: For private prosecution cases, the victim has the right to directly file a lawsuit with the People's Court. If the victim dies or becomes incapacitated, the victim's legal representative and close relatives have the right to file a lawsuit in the People's Court. The People's Court shall accept the case in accordance with the law. According to this provision, the victim of a private prosecution case, his legal representative, and close relatives file a lawsuit with the People's Court, which is also one of the sources of case filing materials.

The victim is the direct victim of the crime. On the one hand, he has a strong desire and initiative to expose the crime and punish the crime. On the other hand, in many cases, because the victim has a history with the criminal suspect, Contact can provide more detailed and specific information about the criminal facts and criminal suspects, so the accusation is of great value to the investigation of the crime. Therefore, the victim's report or complaint is also an important source of case filing materials.

A complaint refers to a victim (including a private prosecutor and a victim unit) disclosing and reporting to the public security and judicial organs the fact that their personal rights and property rights have been illegally infringed upon, as well as the relevant circumstances of the criminal suspect, and demanding that they be investigated in accordance with the law. its criminal liability.

Reporting, accusing and reporting are the democratic rights of citizens and are protected by national laws. No unit or individual may use any excuse to prevent, suppress or retaliate against the reporter, accuser or whistleblower. If retaliation or frame-up against the reporter, accuser or whistleblower constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law.

(4) Surrender of the criminal

Surrender refers to the behavior of the criminal who voluntarily surrenders to the crime after committing the crime, truthfully confesses his crime, and accepts the review and judgment of the public security and judicial organs. The criminal's surrender is also one of the sources of materials for filing a case.

Paragraph 4 of Article 84 of the Criminal Procedure Law clearly stipulates: Where a criminal surrenders to the public security organ, People’s Procuratorate or People’s Court, the provisions of Paragraph 3 shall apply. That is to say, the public security organs, people's procuratorates or people's courts should accept the surrender of criminals. For matters that do not fall under one's own jurisdiction, they should be transferred to the competent authority; for matters that do not fall under one's jurisdiction and emergency measures must be taken, emergency measures should be taken first and then transferred to the competent authority. Since surrendering can result in a lighter, reduced or exempted punishment in accordance with the law, many criminals surrender after committing a crime. The Criminal Procedure Law regards surrender as one of the important sources of case filing materials, and contains the intention of encouraging criminals to voluntarily surrender and strive for leniency. The filing of a case must be based on certain factual materials, but this does not mean that a case can be filed with certain factual materials. Only when the facts reflected in these materials meet the conditions for filing a case can the case be filed correctly, promptly and legally.

The conditions for filing a case refer to the basic conditions that must be met for filing a case, that is, the legal conditions that must be met to determine the establishment of a criminal case and start criminal investigation. Correctly grasping the conditions for filing a case is the key to accurately and timely resolving the issue of whether a case should be filed.

Article 86 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: People's courts, people's procuratorates or public security organs shall promptly review the materials of reports, accusations, reports and surrenders according to the jurisdiction, and deem that there are criminal facts that require criminal prosecution. When it is believed that there are no criminal facts, or the criminal facts are obviously minor and there is no need to pursue criminal responsibility, the case shall not be filed and the accuser shall be notified of the reasons for not filing the case. If the accuser is dissatisfied, he may apply for reconsideration. According to this provision, two conditions must be met for filing a case: first, there are criminal facts, which are called factual conditions; second, there is a need to pursue criminal liability, which is called legal conditions.

(1) There are criminal facts

There are criminal facts, which means that there is objectively some kind of criminal behavior that endangers society. This is the first condition for filing a case. If there are no criminal facts, there will be no question of filing a case. There are criminal facts, including two aspects.

1． To file a case for investigation, it must be an act that constitutes a crime in accordance with the provisions of the criminal law. According to the provisions of the criminal law, criminal behavior refers to behavior that violates the criminal law and is punishable by punishment and endangers society. Cases should and can only be filed for criminal acts. If it is not a criminal act, the case cannot be filed. If there are no criminal facts, or according to the provisions of Article 15, Item 1 of the Criminal Procedure Law, there is an illegal act that endangers society, but the circumstances are obviously minor and the harm is not great, and it is not considered a crime, the case should not be filed.

It should be pointed out that since filing a case is the beginning of investigating a crime, the existence of criminal facts at this time only refers to the discovery of some kind of criminal behavior that endangers society and violates criminal laws. As for the entire crime process, the specific circumstances of the crime, who the perpetrator is, etc., it is not required to know everything when the case is filed. These issues should be resolved through investigation or trial activities after the case is filed.

2． There must be certain factual materials to prove that the crime has indeed occurred. The so-called "confirmed occurrence" means that the facts of the crime have indeed existed, including the fact that the crime has been committed, is being committed and the crime is being prepared. The fact that a crime has indeed occurred must be proven by certain factual materials, and cannot be based on hearsay, fabrication, or speculation. Of course, filing a case is only the initial stage of criminal proceedings. At this stage, the evidence cannot yet be required to prove the identity of the criminal suspect and the purpose, motivation, means, and methods of the crime. However, at this stage there must be certain evidence to prove that the crime has indeed occurred.

(2) The need to pursue criminal responsibility

The need to pursue criminal responsibility means that the criminal perpetrator should be held criminally responsible according to law. This is another condition that must be met for filing a case. Only when there are criminal facts that require the perpetrator to be held criminally responsible according to law can the case be worth filing. Only when a crime has occurred and the perpetrator needs to be held criminally responsible according to law, is it necessary and should be filed.

According to the provisions of Article 15 of the Criminal Procedure Law, although a crime has occurred

but the crime has passed the statute of limitations for prosecution; the person is exempted from punishment by a pardon order; the person shall be prosecuted in accordance with the Criminal Law. If there is no complaint or the complaint is withdrawn for the crime being handled; if the criminal suspect or defendant dies; if other laws provide for exemption from criminal responsibility, criminal responsibility will not be pursued. Therefore, if the criminal perpetrator has one of the above-mentioned statutory circumstances that excludes criminal liability, the case should not be filed.

There are criminal facts and criminal liability needs to be investigated. These are two conditions for filing a case stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Law. Judicial organs must strictly abide by this when filing a case to ensure the accuracy of the filing. However, the conditions for filing a case stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Law are only principle provisions for criminal cases as a whole and are applicable to all criminal cases. As for whether a specific criminal case should be filed, it must be combined with the specific provisions of the criminal law. to determine the constituent elements of a crime. Due to the variety of criminal acts, it is difficult to accurately grasp the conditions for filing a case in practice. In order to uniformly implement the country's criminal laws and correctly grasp the conditions for filing cases, the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Supreme People's Court have separately or jointly formulated some specific filing standards for criminal cases under their respective jurisdictions in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law. For example, the "Regulations on the Filing Standards for Cases Directly Accepted by the People's Procuratorate for Investigation and Investigation (Trial)" issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate on September 16, 1999, and the "Regulations on Filing Standards for Cases Directly Accepted by the People's Procuratorate for Investigation" issued by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security on March 26, 1998. Provisions on the Standards for Determining the Amount of the Crime of Theft", etc.

Since private prosecution cases do not undergo investigation, after the private prosecutor files a lawsuit in the People's Court, if the conditions for filing the case are met, the People's Court should accept the case and directly enter the trial process. Therefore, in addition to the two conditions for filing a public prosecution case, the conditions for filing a private prosecution case should also meet the following conditions according to Article 186 of the Supreme People’s Court’s Interpretation: (1) It falls within the scope of a criminal private prosecution case; (2) ) is under the jurisdiction of the people's court; (3) the victim of the criminal case complains; (4) there is a clear defendant, specific litigation claims and evidence that can prove the defendant's criminal facts. The case filing procedure refers to the steps and forms of various litigation activities in the case filing stage. According to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law, the case filing procedure includes three parts: acceptance, review and processing of case filing materials.

(1) Acceptance of case filing materials

Acceptance of case filing materials refers to the acceptance of case reports, accusations, reports and surrender materials by the public security organs, people's procuratorates and people's courts. It is the beginning of the filing process. When accepting case filing materials, you should pay attention to the following points:

1. Public security organs, people's procuratorates and people's courts should accept reports, accusations, reports and surrenders, and then deal with them in accordance with the law, without using any excuse to refuse or shirk. Article 84, Paragraph 3 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: Public security organs, people's procuratorates or people's courts shall accept reports, accusations and reports. For matters that are not within one's jurisdiction, the case shall be transferred to the competent authority for handling, and the reporter, accuser, and whistleblower shall be notified; for matters that are not within one's jurisdiction and emergency measures must be taken, emergency measures shall be taken first and then transferred to the competent authority. “Emergency measures” here refer to measures such as protecting the scene, detaining suspects in advance, and seizing evidence.

2． Reports, accusations and complaints may be made in written or oral form. Article 85, paragraph 1, of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: Reports, accusations, and reports may be made in writing or orally. Staff members who accept oral reports, accusations and reports shall write down transcripts, which shall be signed or sealed by the reporter, accuser or whistleblower after they are read out correctly. According to this provision, reports, accusations and reports are inconsistent with the facts or even wrong if they are caused by one-sided or erroneous understanding; while false accusations are intentional fabrication of facts and forged evidence with the purpose of framing others.

4． The public security and judicial organs shall keep the reporters, accusers and whistleblowers confidential, and ensure the safety of them and their close relatives. In order to encourage the people to actively fight against criminal acts and protect the rights of units and individuals to accuse and report, Article 85, paragraph 3, of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that the public security organs, people's procuratorates or people's courts shall protect the reporters, accusers, and reporters safety of people and their close relatives. That is, when their safety is threatened, the public security and judicial organs should take the initiative to take protective measures or take corresponding protective measures when required. In order to prevent subsequent retaliation against the reporter, accuser, whistleblower and their close relatives, this paragraph also stipulates that if the reporter, accuser, or whistleblower does not want to disclose their name and the behavior of reporting, accusing, or reporting, they should Keep them secret.

(2) Review of case filing materials

Review of case filing materials means that the public security organs, people's procuratorates, and people's courts check and review the case filing materials discovered or accepted by themselves. Investigative activities. Its task is to correctly determine whether a crime has occurred, whether the perpetrator should be held criminally responsible according to law, and to lay the foundation for making a correct decision to file a case or not. The review of case filing materials is the central link in the case filing process and the key to whether the case can be filed correctly and timely. Because filing a case or not filing a case depends on the results of the review of case filing materials by the three organs of public security, procuratorate, and law, and the process of reviewing the materials is to confirm whether there are criminal facts and analyze and judge whether the criminal facts need to be investigated according to the case filing conditions stipulated by the law. process of criminal liability. Therefore, the review of case filing materials is a very important task.

Article 86 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: People's courts, people's procuratorates or public security organs shall promptly review materials on reports, accusations, reports and surrenders according to their jurisdiction. Through review, it should be found out: whether the incident reflected in the material is a criminal act; if it is a criminal act, whether there is reliable evidence and materials to prove it; whether the perpetrator needs to be held criminally responsible according to law; whether there are any circumstances that legally exclude criminal responsibility .

In judicial practice, when the public security, procuratorial or judicial organs review case filing materials, they may require the units and individuals who reported, charged, or reported the case to provide supplementary materials, or require them to provide supplementary explanations, or they may Necessary investigation. When the public security and judicial organs review case filing materials, they only require that the evidence obtained is sufficient to prove that a crime has occurred, and when it is necessary to pursue criminal liability according to law and the case should be filed; or when there is no need to pursue criminal liability according to law and the case should not be filed, the review before filing the case The job is done. For cases that should be filed, it is not required to find out all the criminal facts and apprehend the criminal suspects.

For private prosecution cases, since the law requires the private prosecutor to present various evidence to prove the occurrence of the crime when filing a private prosecution, therefore, during the review process, if the People’s Court considers that the evidence presented by the private prosecutor is not If the case is sufficient, the private prosecutor may be required to submit additional materials to substantiate the relevant criminal facts, but the court shall not conduct an investigation before filing the case.

(3) Handling of case filing materials

Handling of case filing materials means that the public security organs, people's procuratorates, and people's courts make decisions based on different situations after reviewing the case filing materials. The decision to file or not file a case. This is the final result of the case filing process.

Article 86 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that when the People's Court, People's Procuratorate, and Public Security Bureau review the case filing materials and believe that there are criminal facts that require criminal liability, they shall file the case; if they believe that there are no criminal facts, or that the crime When the facts are obviously minor and there is no need to pursue criminal liability, the case will not be filed. According to this provision, the handling of case filing materials includes two forms: a decision to file a case and a decision not to file a case.

1． Decide on the filing of the case and the legal procedures to be handled.

After reviewing the case filing materials, the public security organs, people's procuratorates, and people's courts believe that if the conditions for filing a case are met, that is, a crime has occurred and the perpetrator needs to be held criminally responsible according to law, they shall make a decision to file the case.

After the public security organ examines the case filing materials and deems it necessary to file the case, the person in charge shall fill in the "Case Filing Report Form". After approval by the person in charge of the public security organ, it will be handed over to the investigation department to start investigation. After reviewing the case filing materials, if the People's Procuratorate deems it necessary to file the case, the person in charge will first fill out the "Case Filing Request Report" and, upon approval by the Chief Prosecutor or the Procuratorial Committee's decision, prepare a "Case Filing Decision". The "Request for Instructions on Case Filing" and the "Decision on Case Filing" should also be reported to the first-level People's Procuratorate for record in a timely manner. If the People's Procuratorate at the higher level believes that the case should not be filed, it will issue a "Notice to Correct Case Errors" and notify the People's Procuratorate at the lower level to withdraw the case. If the lower People's Procuratorate has different opinions, can it apply for reconsideration? For private prosecution cases accepted by the People's Court, the prosecution and appeal tribunal staff generally fill out the "Case Filing and Approval Form" first, and after review and approval by the person in charge, they are transferred to the criminal tribunal for trial.

2． Decide not to file a case and the legal procedures that should be handled. The public security and judicial organs that accept case filing materials shall, after review, make a decision not to file a case if they believe that the conditions for filing a case are not met, that is, no criminal facts have occurred, or there is no need to pursue criminal liability.

If it is decided not to file a case, a "Decision Not to File a Case" should be produced, stating the source of materials for the case, the reasons and legal basis for deciding not to file the case, the agency that decided not to file the case, etc. According to the Criminal Procedure Law and relevant provisions, if the public security and judicial organs decide not to file a case, they shall notify the accuser of the reasons for not filing the case. If the accuser is dissatisfied, he may apply for reconsideration. The accuser's application for reconsideration shall be reviewed and responded to in a timely manner. For those who do not meet the conditions for filing a case but have serious mistakes or general violations of laws and disciplines that need to be handled by other departments, the reports, accusations or reporting materials should be transferred to the relevant departments for processing. (1) The concept of case-filing supervision

Case-filing supervision refers to litigation activities in which agencies and citizens with supervisory powers monitor, supervise or review case-filing activities in accordance with the law. Supervision on case filing can be divided into broad and narrow senses. Case-filing supervision in a narrow sense refers to the supervision of the procuratorial organs on the case-filing activities of the public security organs. It is a type of supervision of criminal proceedings by the People's Procuratorate. Supervision of case filing in a broad sense also includes supervision of case filing activities by other units and individuals.

Article 86 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that when the people's court, people's procuratorate or public security organ decides not to file a case, the accuser shall be notified of the reasons for not filing the case. If the accuser is dissatisfied, he may apply for reconsideration. Article 87 also stipulates: If the People’s Procuratorate believes that the public security organs have not opened a case for investigation when it should be opened for investigation, or the victim believes that the public security organs have not opened a case for investigation and has filed a complaint with the People’s Procuratorate, the People’s Procuratorate shall request the public security organs to investigate. The agency explains the reasons for not filing a case. If the People's Procuratorate believes that the public security organ's reasons for not filing a case are untenable, it shall notify the public security organ to file the case, and the public security organ shall file the case after receiving the notification. It can be seen that the supervision of case filing provided by law includes two forms: supervision by the accuser and supervision by the procuratorial organ.

(2) Procedures for case filing and supervision

The procedures for case filing and supervision refer to the methods and steps prescribed by law for the accuser and the People's Procuratorate to supervise case filing activities. Due to the different status and nature of the accuser and the procuratorate, the procedures for supervision of case filing are also different between them.

1． Supervision of the accuser. The accuser supervises case filing activities by applying for reconsideration. If the accuser is dissatisfied with the public security organ's decision not to file a case, he may apply for reconsideration to the public security organ that made the original decision within 7 days after receiving the "Notice of Not Filing a Case." The public security organ that made the original decision shall make a decision within 10 days after receiving the reconsideration application and notify the accuser in writing. If the accuser is dissatisfied with the People's Procuratorate's decision not to file the case, he may apply for reconsideration within 10 days after receiving the notice of not filing the case. Reconsideration of non-filing of a case shall be handled by the Complaints and Appeals Department of the People's Procuratorate, and a review decision shall be made within 30 days of receipt of the review application.

2． Supervision by the People's Procuratorate.

(1) The People’s Procuratorate supervises the public security organs’ failure to file cases. Article 87 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: If the People's Procuratorate believes that the public security organs have not opened a case for investigation in a case that should be opened for investigation, or the victim believes that the public security organs have not opened a case for investigation in a case that should be opened for investigation, and if the People's Procuratorate files a complaint with the People's Procuratorate, the People's Procuratorate shall The public security organs are required to explain the reasons for not filing a case. If the People's Procuratorate believes that the public security organ's reasons for not filing a case are untenable, it shall notify the public security organ to file the case, and the public security organ shall file the case after receiving the notification. Specifically, the People's Procuratorate's supervision of the public security organs' failure to file a case should pay attention to the following points:

The People's Procuratorate's supervision of the public security organs' failure to file a case comes from two sources: ① Through various businesses of the People's Procuratorate The activity finds that the public security organs should file a case but do not; ② Through the victim's complaint, if the victim believes that the public security organs should file a case but does not, he has the right to file a case with the People's Procuratorate. The law is reviewed. During the review, the victim may be required to provide relevant materials and necessary investigations may be conducted. If it is deemed that the public security organs need to explain the reasons for not filing a case, the case shall be transferred to the review and arrest department for processing.

If the arresting review department, after investigating and verifying relevant evidence and materials, deems it necessary for the public security organs to explain the reasons for not filing the case, with the approval of the chief prosecutor, it may require the public security organs to explain in writing the reasons for not filing the case within 7 days. The public security organ shall prepare a "Statement of Reasons for Not Filing a Case" within 7 days, and after approval by the person in charge of the public security organ at or above the county level, notify the People's Procuratorate.

After the public security organ explains the reasons for not filing the case, if the review and arrest department believes that the reason for not filing the case is established, it shall notify the prosecution and appeals department, which will inform the victim within 10 days of the reasons and basis for not filing the case. .

If the arrest review department believes that the reason for the public security organ not to file a case is untenable, it shall notify the public security organ to file the case. The People's Procuratorate notifies the public security organs that the decision to file a case shall be made by the chief prosecutor; major, difficult, and complex cases shall be submitted by the chief prosecutor to the procuratorial committee for discussion and decision. When the People's Procuratorate notifies the public security organ to file a case, it shall prepare a decision notifying the case and send it to the public security organ. At the same time, a copy shall be submitted to the People's Procuratorate at the next higher level for filing. When the People's Procuratorate delivers the decision to file a case, it should also transfer relevant materials proving that the case should be filed to the public security organ, inform the public security organ to file the case within 15 days, and send the decision to file the case to the People's Procuratorate.

After receiving the notice of the case filing decision, the public security organ shall file the case within 15 days and send the case filing decision to the People's Procuratorate. If the People's Procuratorate notifies the public security organ to file a case, it shall supervise the implementation of the notice to file the case in accordance with the law. For major criminal cases committed by state agency staff under the jurisdiction of the public security organs by taking advantage of their powers, the People's Procuratorate notifies the public security organs to file the case. If the public security organs refuse to file the case, the People's Procuratorate may directly file the case for investigation upon the decision of the People's Procuratorate at or above the provincial level.

If the public security organ should not file a case but instead files a case for investigation, the People's Procuratorate shall submit opinions on correcting the violation to the public security organ.

(2) The People’s Procuratorate’s supervision over the People’s Procuratorate’s failure to file a case. The Criminal Procedure Law does not clearly stipulate whether or how supervision should be implemented on cases directly accepted by the People's Procuratorate. However, Article 379 of the People's Procuratorate's "Rules" stipulates: If the People's Procuratorate's arrest review department or prosecution prosecution department discovers that the investigation department of the People's Procuratorate has not reported a case that should be filed for investigation, it shall recommend filing a case for investigation; if the recommendation is not adopted, it shall file a request for filing a case. The Attorney General decides.

(3) The significance of case-filing supervision

The Criminal Procedure Law makes special provisions for the People’s Procuratorate’s supervision of the public security organs’ case-filing activities, so that the People’s Procuratorate’s supervision of the public security organs’ case-filing activities With a clear legal basis, the People's Procuratorate's supervision function over investigation work has been strengthened and improved, which is conducive to combating and punishing crimes, preventing criminals from going unpunished and evading legal sanctions, safeguarding the interests of the country and the people, and ensuring the unity and correct implementation of national laws. .

At present, in criminal justice practice, there are serious phenomena such as "not establishing a case if it exists", "not establishing a case if it is not solved", "replacing punishment with punishment", and "establishing a case but not investigating". The existence of these problems not only hinders the correct implementation of the law and damages the authority and dignity of the law, but also results in an ineffective crackdown on crime. Therefore, strengthening case filing supervision to prevent and overcome the existence of the above-mentioned adverse phenomena has become an urgent issue.