10 Proposals for Further Deepening Reform: Judiciary Reform
Shenzhen Innovation and Development Institute (SZIDI) released the China Reform Report 2017 in May 2018. Entitled Reform on Route, this year’s report evaluates twelve major aspects of the reform process in 2017, concludes reform experiences from the past five years and makes predictions on the future trend of reform in 2018 with ten policy recommendations. The report identifies 2017 as a crucial year during which series of planning and design culminate into implementation, and historical breakthroughs and periodical progresses rise to the surface.
The 4th plenary of the 18th CPC Central Committee adopted a decision to comprehensively advance the rule of law in 2014, curtains apart for a new round of judiciary reform in China. Nevertheless, the report reveals that public trust in judiciary justice and authority, as well as the legal system has not seen improvements, and that cases in violation of judiciary justice continue to occupy the headlines.
Therefore, the report suggests that the judiciary reform should
l start from realizing justice in every individual case, in order to increase public trust
l encourage public participation in the judiciary reform and improve transparency
n displaying documents on judiciary reform
n making public the reform progresses and other relevant information
n welcoming public debate and criticism
n encouraging the establishment of non-governmental legal research institutes
n encouraging the participation of legal practitioners
l ensure equality, guaranteeing the legitimate rights of disadvantaged and under representative groups
l encourage the active participation of local governments
n taking into consideration regional differences
n designating discretionary power to local legal authorities to design different reform agenda
n encouraging regional competition
