--Ye Qing, Research Fellow & Director of the, Law Institute, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences

Abstract

On the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC, the Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms was approved; this reform aims to "improve and develop the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and promote national governance systems and a modern governance capacity". To that end, the Party and the new government leadership plans to make new and greater efforts for improving judicial justice and fairness from the perspective of, the rule of law.

In terms of judicial independence, China plans to implement the presiding judge responsibility system, improve power allocations for the collegiate bench and the judicial committee and their personnel, limit the administrative responsibilities of the court president to avoid interference of and with the executive branch, identify the responsibilities of courts at all levels, change the criteria on case jurisdiction and improve the jurisdiction change system to avoid localization of the judiciary system, polish the skills on the formulation of judicial policies and interpretations, strengthen the case guidelines system and perfect the application of laws to provide more support for the judge's independent handling of the cases.

In terms of case quality, an all-round quality control system shall be created which provides details on the assessment factors and their weights in a scientific and reasonable manner, identifies the standards, procedures and responsibilities of the system for wrongful conviction cases, and supervises judges to improve adjudication quality. Resources will be allocated to optimize the judicial organs and strengthen services for the judicial work.

In terms of professionals development schemes, China needs to foster and develop the integrity of judicial officers through ideological and political education, improve judicial service capacity with capacity building and training systems, increase the requirements for judge appointments, develop the incentive and punishment system and inspire a greater professional pride in judges.

In terms of judicial support, modern information technologies shall be used to devise new ways for judicial openness; the democratic functioning of the judiciary system shall be strengthened to increase public participation; protection shall be provided for judicial officers to ensure their personal safety and allow for high level performance on the job; funding shall be increased to improve the practicing environment of local judicial officers.

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