Supreme People’s Court: new regulations on legal representation in death penalty review cases | Supreme People's Court Monitor

For many years - despite authority to do so -the Chinese Supreme Peoples Court rarely exercised its right of review.  But in 2007 that changed, with the court announcing it would review all cases under the maxim "kill few, kill carefully".  In 2009 the court announced that it intended to reduce executions further and that its rate of reversal on review had reached 10 - 15%.  Review has grown more systematic since then. Susan Finder reports on the latest news from the high court. - gwc
Supreme People’s Court: new regulations on legal representation in death penalty review cases | Supreme People's Court Monitor
by Susan Finder

The Supreme People’s Court today issued regulations on legal representation in death penalty cases, Measures for Considering the Views of Defense Lawyers in Death Penalty Review Cases (最高人民法院关于办理死刑复核案件听取辩护律师意见的办法).  This blog previously flagged that the Court was drafting them and that they were meant to be issued by the end of the year.  They will become effective on February 1.  They  were accompanied by a brief question and answer session with a responsible person from the Court’s #1 Criminal Division.  The regulations permit defense lawyers to review the defendant’s file, provide additional evidence and have a hearing with the judges handling the case, although not a formal court hearing. The Court has created a room for lawyers to use to review death penalty review materials. The transcript of the hearing (as signed off by the defense lawyer) is to be included in the case file.

The regulations set out the telephone numbers of the Court’s criminal divisions, which review death penalty cases.  This blogpost translated a chart drafted by the Chinese magazine Southern Weekend setting out jurisdiction of the various divisions.

This is an important step forward in protecting the rights of criminal defendants.

Additional analysis to follow.

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