Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People’s Court, delivers a report at the 31st session of the 12th National People’s Congress Standing Committee on Dec 23 in Beijing. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

The head of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) gave a report on pilot programs of lenient punishment for those confessing crimes over the last year in a conference of the 12th National People’s Congress Standing Committee on Dec 23 in Beijing.

Zhou Qiang, chief justice and president of the SPC, detailed the system for imposing lenient punishment on those confessing to their crimes and accepting punishment in criminal cases.

The committee passed regulations authorizing the SPC and Supreme People’s Procuratorate to set up pilot projects in eighteen regions in Sept 2016.

Zhou pointed out that courts and procuratorates responsible for pilot projects should focus on criminal cases involving less than three years of imprisonment and those arising from folk disputes and adapt case handling and litigation procedures to them.

It’s necessary to strengthen protection of rights when obtaining voluntary confessions, Zhou said, and to implement a duty counsel system.

Supervision should also be reinforced to guarantee the steady operation of the pilot projects, according to Zhou.

The regulations stipulate that when courts make judgments in crime confession cases they should be open to suggestions from procuratorates regarding conviction andpenalty.

Speaking of achievements in implementing pilot programs, Zhou said that judicial resources were allocated reasonably for the promotion of criminal litigation efficiency.

For crime confession cases, procuratorates take up to 26 days to review the matter and the case concluded within 15 days by courts account for 83.5 percent of the total.