论刑事司法中的公民参与——以美国刑事陪审制度为重点的探讨

Citizens’ Participation in Criminal Justice:An Exploration with Special Reference to the American Criminal Jury System

在现代社会中,公民参与司法,不仅意味着国家尊重和保护公民的权利,而且意味着公民的权利要监督和限制国家的权力,防止公权力的滥用,确保公权力服务于公共利益。作为公民参与司法的形式,陪审制度最大的价值在于透过公民对刑事案件的参与以实现司法的民主。在美国,不论是大陪审团抑或是小陪审团,均能将司法置于民众的监督之下,防止职业法官或检察官的擅断,保护弱小的公民免受强大的国家机器的不当追诉。在美国,受陪审团审判的权利被认为是一项最基本的权利,在实践中,对于陪审团审判的案件范围、陪审团组成的规模、陪审团的公正性、陪审团裁判是否应当一致等,都上升到了公民宪法性保障的程度。美国陪审团制度所体现的对于民主自由、公平正义的司法理念追求所蕴含的法治精神及其制度设计等对于我国人民陪审员制度的更好实施具有很大的借鉴意义。

In modern society,citizens’ participation in the administration of justice means not only that the state respects and protects the rights of citizens,but also that citizens can exercise their rights to monitor and limit the power of the state.This is conducive to preventing the abuse of public power and ensuring that public power serves the public interest.As a form of citizens’ participation in the administration of justice,the greatest value of the jury system lies in the realization of democracy in the administration of justice through the citizens’ participation in handling criminal cases.In the United States,both grand and petit juries put the administration of justice under public scrutiny,preventing the arbitrariness of professional judges or prosecutors and protecting weak citizens from improper prosecution by the powerful state apparatus.The right to a jury trial is considered a fundamental right,and in practice,the scope of cases to be tried by jury,the size of the jury,the impartiality of the jury,and whether jury decisions should be unanimous,have all risen to the level of constitutional guarantees for citizens.The American jury system well embodies the pursuit of democratic freedom,fairness and justice,and the spirit of rule of law and its institutional design.All these are of great significance for the better implementation of the system of people’s accessors in China.