People’s courts at all levels have been strengthening their main responsibilities and supervision in building the Party’s work style and a clean government, so as to ensure judicial fairness and support the principle of administering justice for the people since the 18th Party Congress in 2012.

Defining the responsibility of courts at every level

The leading Party group of the Supreme People’s Court fully implemented President Xi Jinping’s remarks and bear their responsibilities on promoting the Party’s work style and building a clean government.

In June, 2014, the SPC formulated a detailed plan for division of labor, clarifying 30 specific measures in six categories, as well as designating the responsible person and department, and providing a schedule for each measure.

In September of the same year, the SPC released a list of supervision responsibilities for the discipline inspection and supervision departments of people’s courts.

In December 2015, the SPC approved a temporal guideline emphasizing its role in investigating the main responsibilities and supervision in building the Party’s work style and a clean government. With the SPC’s support, people’s courts at all levels will follow up to fulfill their duties.

Harsh punishment on judicial personnel’s dereliction of duty

The SPC launched an accountability mechanism of “dual investigations for a case”, which will investigate both the person involved and his superior. According to incomplete statistics, since the 18th Party Congress in 2012, 270 people have been investigated including 217, or 80.4 percent, in “dual investigation for a case” situations.

Among the 270 people, 42 were Party chiefs and heads, 121 members of leading groups, 72 heads of divisions of courts, and 8 disciplinary officials; in terms of punishment, 54 of them received criticism and education, 21 were punished by the Party organization and 213 got punishment from both administrative and Party disciplinary organs.

Exposure of typical negative examples

Since the 18th Party Congress in 2012, the SPC has released the investigation results of 13 court heads and officials, which educated other cadres at courts and improved their sense of responsibility. Meanwhile, the SPC and all the high courts continue to strengthen their supervision and guidance of lower courts to ensure accountability in investigating nonfeasance and failure to fulfill a duty.