The main significance of witnesses＇ appearing in court to testify in criminal trials is that this practice guarantees the defendant＇s right to confrontation. The issue can thus be framed in another way, as the issue...The main significance of witnesses＇ appearing in court to testify in criminal trials is that this practice guarantees the defendant＇s right to confrontation. The issue can thus be framed in another way, as the issue of the appearance in court of the necessary witnesses. Here, the defendant＇s right to confront is the key point. Since neither China＇s criminal procedural law nor corresponding judicial interpretations have granted the defendant the right to confront, the rate of appearance of the necessary witnesses amounts in practice to only about twenty- five percent. Criminal trials conducted in the absence of the right to confrontation usually conform to the doctrine of positive substantive truth and manifest a lack of care in conviction and sentencing as well as reliance on a single source of legitimacy in reaching judgments. To correct this state of affairs, it is necessary to institute the right to confront and corresponding safeguards.展开更多
文摘The main significance of witnesses＇ appearing in court to testify in criminal trials is that this practice guarantees the defendant＇s right to confrontation. The issue can thus be framed in another way, as the issue of the appearance in court of the necessary witnesses. Here, the defendant＇s right to confront is the key point. Since neither China＇s criminal procedural law nor corresponding judicial interpretations have granted the defendant the right to confront, the rate of appearance of the necessary witnesses amounts in practice to only about twenty- five percent. Criminal trials conducted in the absence of the right to confrontation usually conform to the doctrine of positive substantive truth and manifest a lack of care in conviction and sentencing as well as reliance on a single source of legitimacy in reaching judgments. To correct this state of affairs, it is necessary to institute the right to confront and corresponding safeguards.
