To be honest, collecting evidence is a trap, and many grassroots police officers have fallen into this trap.
Who should collect evidence, what procedures should be followed, to what extent the collection should be carried out, and what are the requirements. These must be understood and kept in mind in order to be a qualified police officer.
Article 50 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: Judges, prosecutors, and investigators must collect various evidence that can prove the guilt or innocence of criminal suspects and defendants, and the seriousness of the crime in accordance with legal procedures. . It is strictly prohibited to use torture to extract confessions and to collect evidence through threats, inducements, deceptions and other illegal methods, and no one may be forced to prove his or her guilt. It must be ensured that all citizens who are related to the case or know the facts of the case have the conditions to objectively and fully provide evidence. Except under special circumstances, they can be recruited to assist in the investigation.
This article makes one modification to Article 43 of the Criminal Procedure Law before the amendment. After "it is strictly prohibited to extract confessions by torture and to collect evidence by threats, inducements, deceptions and other illegal methods", a provision was added that "no one shall be forced to prove his or her guilt". This provision is also often referred to as the principle of non-forced self-incrimination. It aims to further curb the practice of extorting confessions through torture and other illegal evidence collection, and safeguard judicial fairness and the legitimate rights of participants in criminal proceedings.
1. The police must follow legal procedures when collecting evidence. Collecting evidence is the basic work of handling a case and is very important. The Criminal Procedure Law clearly stipulates various methods for collecting evidence. For example
When interrogating a criminal suspect who may be sentenced to death or life imprisonment, the entire process should be audio-recorded and videotaped;
A "search warrant" must be produced during the search, and the search situation should be written down. ;
A list of seized physical evidence and documentary evidence must be made on the spot in duplicate, etc.
In the process of collecting evidence, the police handling the case cannot violate these procedural regulations. More importantly, we must not be obsessed with evidence that can prove the guilt of a suspect or defendant and the seriousness of his crime, while completely ignoring the evidence that proves his innocence or lightness of crime. Even if your master does this, even if your master asks you to do this, you must still have a sense of proportion in your heart. After all, if you break the law, Master cannot save you.
2. It is strictly prohibited to collect evidence through illegal methods. The so-called illegal methods generally refer to torture to extract confessions and the use of threats, inducements, deception, etc. to collect evidence.
Extorting confessions by torture refers to an interrogation method that uses corporal punishment or disguised corporal punishment to force the defendant to make a guilty confession. Not only is it strictly prohibited to extort confessions when interrogating a defendant, but also when interrogating witnesses or other people, it is also prohibited to extort testimony or force the provision of evidence.
Our country strictly prohibits the act of extorting confessions by torture. Article 247 of the "Criminal Law" specifically stipulates the crime of extorting confessions by torture. Judicial personnel who use torture to extort confessions from criminal suspects or defendants shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or detention. Those who cause injury, disability or death shall be severely punished for the crime of intentional injury or intentional homicide. Thousands of police officers have lost their jobs because of torture.
The law stipulates that the confessions and defenses of criminal suspects and defendants, witness testimonies, appraisal opinions, etc. obtained through illegal means such as torture cannot be used as the basis for finalizing a case, so they are taken in vain.
More importantly, the police "may not force anyone to prove his or her guilt." This article is particularly important because it was specifically added when the Criminal Procedure Law was revised. This article was not included in the previous law.
3. It must be ensured that all citizens related to the case or who know the facts of the case have the conditions to provide evidence objectively and fully. We must comprehensively listen to and record the testimonies of witnesses, and comprehensively collect other evidence provided by relevant citizens. We must not only listen to and record the testimony that proves the defendant's guilt, but refuse to listen and record the testimony that proves the defendant's innocence, or refuse to listen to and record the testimony of relevant citizens. Provide evidence that proves the defendant's innocence.
What are the legal methods of collecting evidence? The Criminal Procedure Law clearly stipulates, including inspection, inspection, search, interrogation of criminal suspects and defendants, interrogation of victims and witnesses, identification, identification, seizure, seizure, freezing, investigative experiments and other means. There are no means specified in the Criminal Procedure Law that cannot be used to collect evidence, or even if some results are obtained, they cannot be used as evidence.
For example, a polygraph is used to conclude that someone has committed a certain act, but since the Criminal Procedure Law does not provide for the use of a polygraph to collect evidence, the conclusion cannot be used as evidence. It can only be used as a reference to determine the direction of investigation.