China has improved the allocation of judicial functions and powers, and furthered reform to establish a criminal litigation system centered on court trials. It has strengthened legal supervision by prosecuting bodies, and underlined the role of litigation procedures in regulating the exercise of power. It has better defined the procedures, powers and accountabilities of the judiciary and law enforcement, and improved their coordination. China has also enhanced the institutions and mechanisms by which public security, prosecuting, judicial, and judicial administrative bodies perform their respective functions and work closely together while mutually checking on each other in the exercise of investigative, prosecuting, judicial and law enforcement powers.

Improving protection for judicial personnel to perform their duties. China has improved the system under which any leading officials found to have interfered in judicial activities or the handling of specific cases, or any judicial personnel found to have attempted to influence the result of a case, will be put on record and held accountable. This aims to ensure that the judiciary is free from interference by administrative bodies, social organizations or individuals.

China has standardized methods for the evaluation, accountability and sanctioning of judicial personnel, making it clear that judges and prosecutors who perform their duties in accordance with the law are not subject to legal action, and protecting those responsible for misjudgments that result in severe consequences as long as they have not intentionally violated laws and regulations or are not guilty of gross negligence. No judge or prosecutor may be transferred, removed, dismissed, or demoted without legal procedures and other than for legal reasons.

China has improved the relief mechanism for victimized judicial personnel and the mechanism for clarifying false reports against judicial personnel, and acts resolutely against infringements of the legitimate rights and interests of judicial personnel, so as to foster a social atmosphere that respects judicial adjudication and upholds judicial authority. It has also improved compensation and preferential treatment measures to provide judges and prosecutors with personal and property guarantees that are commensurate with their occupational risks.

Preventing and redressing miscarriages of justice. China has established and improved mechanisms for the identification, correction and prevention of misjudged cases, and for imposing accountability on those responsible. It adheres to the unity of procedural justice and substantive justice, and safeguards judicial justice. It strictly follows the principles of legality, presumption of innocence, evidence-based verdict, and exclusion of illegally obtained evidence. It prohibits forced confessions, corporal punishments, or abuse. It also implements a state compensation system to strengthen judicial guarantee of human rights.

In 2019 and 2020, people’s courts at all levels retried 1,774 and 1,818 criminal cases respectively in accordance with trial supervision procedures and overthrew the original judgments, acquitting 637 and 656 defendants in public prosecution cases and 751 and 384 defendants in private prosecution cases, and concluded 18,164 and 18,433 state compensation cases to protect the legitimate rights and interests of compensation claimants. Between January 2020 and June 2021, prosecuting bodies at all levels lodged protests in 1,325 criminal cases through trial supervision procedures, while the courts changed 685 verdicts and remanded 134 cases for retrial in the same period. The prosecuting bodies raised 616 proposals for criminal retrial, and the courts changed 214 verdicts and remanded 6 cases for retrial over the same period. A number of major wrongful convictions were corrected in accordance with the law.

Strengthening protection of lawyers’ practicing rights. China has issued the Provisions on Protecting Lawyers’ Practicing Rights in Accordance with the Law, which provide comprehensive provisions protecting lawyers’ litigation rights, such as the rights to meet their clients, examine case files, investigate, and obtain evidence, as well as to ask questions, conduct cross-examination, debate, and defend during court trials. It has also improved the relief and accountability mechanisms for protecting lawyers’ rights.

The Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Justice, and the All-China Lawyers Association have set up a fast-track joint response mechanism for safeguarding lawyers’ practicing rights, to ensure that lawyers can get timely and effective relief when their rights are infringed. The All-China Lawyers Association, and lawyers associations at provincial and city levels have all set up centers for safeguarding lawyers’ practicing rights. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate has carried out special programs to supervise and correct cases where law enforcement and judicial bodies hinder lawyers from exercising their litigation rights, so as to ensure the smooth progress of litigation activities. At the end of 2020, there were more than 34,000 law firms and 522,000 lawyers in China.