Ⅰ Introduction

The legal aid system is an important part of rule of law with Chinese characteristics. China began to explore the legal aid system in 1994. In 1996, Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China was adopted and basic regulations on legal aid for criminal cases were made. In 2003, a preliminary framework for legal aid system came into being as Legal Aid Regulations of the State Council was passed. The Chinese government has been actively fulfilling its obligation for legal aid. Based on real conditions, it is making continuous efforts to improve the legal aid system and has achieved good results. Team building of legal aid institutions is being promoted in a stable manner. By the end of 2014, more than 3700 legal aid institutions had been established at provincial, city and county level, and 68,000 legal aid stations had been set up with supports from sub-district offices, township and village judicial stations as well as relevant departments such as labor unions, communist youth leagues, women federations, committees for aging, and disabled persons' federations with 14,000 legal aid professionals, and 82,000 registered legal aid volunteers. Across the country, over 270,000 practicing lawyers and about 70,000 grassroots legal service workers accept appointment of cases by legal aid institutions to provide legal aid services. Many social groups, public interest groups, and "legal clinics" run by law schools provide large amount of legal aid services. Thus, a network of legal aid services covering both rural and urban areas has been shaped. Financial guarantee for legal aid has been strengthened, and a co-sharing system for legal aid funds has been established, under which the central and local governments share the financial responsibility for legal aid. In 2014, the legal aid funding of the whole country amounted to 1.7 billion yuan. Meanwhile, the results of legal aid for the poor are quite good. The focus of legal aid is put on the needs of the poor and the requirement for enhancing judicial protection for human rights. The standards of economic difficulty and the supplementary rules on the scope of legal aid are being adjusted in time. Thus, the coverage of legal aid has been expanded with legal aid provided for criminal suspects, defendants and victims, and legal services provided for those in need regarding employment, schooling and health care. In 2014, legal aid institutions across the country received visits, letters and calls from nearly 6.8 million people, and handled 1.24 million legal aid cases including 240,000 plus criminal ones and 990,000 civil ones. The number of legal aid recipients reached 1.39 million.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the work of legal aid. Since the convening of the 18th CPC National Congress, to improve the legal aid system has become an important item for comprehensively deepening reform and promoting rule of law. President Xi Jinping made several important instructions for improving legal aid system, and there were requirements for enhancing and improving the work of legal aid in work reports of the central government. The Ministry of Justice and judicial administrative departments at all levels are seriously carrying out their responsibility of supervising the work of legal aid. Legal aid institutions at all levels are seriously organizing and implementing legal aid services. All of these departments and institutions are making positive efforts to promote the development of the legal aid cause.

Ⅱ Continuous Improvement of the Criminal Legal Aid System

The criminal legal aid system is of great significance for protecting the rights to defense of criminal suspects and defendants and ensuring fairness of criminal justice. It is irreplaceable in criminal justice. The Chinese government always attaches great importance to the protection of the rights of criminal suspects and defendants to litigation, is actively learning from beneficial experience of foreign countries in criminal legal aid to improve its own system and has made good results. As early as in 1950s, there was a system of designated defense, which demanded lawyers to exempt poor clients from fees or reduce fee-charging for such parties. In early 1996, the Criminal Procedure Law clearly stated that lawyers must honor their legal aid obligations and handle cases of designated defense. Thus, the legal status of criminal legal aid was established. In 2003, the State Council promulgated the Legal Aid Regulations, giving provisions on government responsibility, financial guarantee, establishment of institutions, obligations of lawyers to give legal aid services, and the conditions and scope of legal aid. The Regulations defined the fundamental framework of legal aid system, and further improved the criminal legal aid system. In March 2012, China amended its Criminal Procedure Law and issued series of normative documents on the work of criminal legal aid, enhancing the position and role of legal aid in litigation. For the first time, legal aid institutions were administered by the Criminal Procedure Law, the coverage of criminal legal aid was extended, departments of public security, courts and procuratorates were obliged to inform parties concerned of their right to legal aid, the right to litigation was endowed to the parties and lawyers, and the relief system for the rights to criminal litigation was defined. With years of development, the criminal legal aid system with Chinese characteristics is improving constantly, and a legislation system for criminal legal aid, which centers on the Criminal Procedure Law and the Legal Aid Regulations, has come into being. 

Ⅲ Constant Enhancement of the Capacity of Criminal Legal Aid Services

According to provisions of law, local legal aid institutions accepts legal aid applications made by criminal suspects, defendants, victims, and private prosecutors who failed to entrust a defender because of financial difficulty or other reasons, or applications made by their close relatives at stages of investigation, prosecution and adjudication, and provide legal aid, on notice of public security departments, procuratorates and courts, for the defendants who is blind, deaf or mute, who is a mental patient but has not completely lost the ability of recognizing or controlling his/her own conduct, who is a minor, or who may be sentenced to life imprisonment or death penalty. Efforts of legal aid for special groups such as juveniles, women, people with disabilities, seniors, people of minority nationalities, or foreign nationals have been increased so that the legitimate rights of these groups could be better protected. Based on the principles of protecting the safety and privacy of victims, respecting their willness, special protection for victims such as juveniles, seniors, people with disabilites, pregnant women or women who are breastfeeding their babies, and those who are seriously ill, effective legal aid is provided for these groups of people in a timely manner.

Legal aid institutions across the country are actively innovating means of legal aid. For instance, the office of duty lawyers is set up in detention centers and courts, there is legal aid hot line of 12348, legal aid institutions are actively participating in hearings on investigation and arrest in cases involving juveniles or tough cases. Besides, criminal conciliation in cases of minor injury and cases involving juveniles is being promoted, and construction of convenient service network and service windows on the first floor of buildings is being strengthened. The Internet, WeChat and Micro blog are also being used to assist the work of legal aid. All these measures aim to develop the services of criminal legal aid in multiple ways. And a fast and efficient service mechanism has been formed.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice has launched "1+1" Legal Aid Voluntary Project, encouraged excellent law firms to set up branch offices or support the establishment of state-owned law firms in under-developed regions. This has effectively met the demand of the poor and special groups in regions without sufficient lawyers. Relying on publicity of legal aid and public educational programs of law, the Ministry of Justice is pushing local legal aid institutions to make good use of various media forms to conduct publicity and educational activities on criminal legal aid, increase public awareness and self-service of criminal legal aid, and enhance law enforcers' respect for the right to litigation of criminal suspects and defendants and increase their consciousness of their duties.

Ⅳ Coordinating Mechanisms of Criminal Legal Aid Being Continuously Improved

The Ministry of Justice and local authorities have made series of normative documents on criminal legal aid, establishing coordinating mechanisms. For example, there is a joint meeting system where the justice authorities play a leading role, public security departments, procuratorates, courts and legal aid institutions are participants. At such joint meetings, relevant authorities report to each other recent work of criminal legal aid and discuss problems to be solved. Cooperation among public security departments, procuratorates, courts and legal aid institutions have been improved. The effective implementation of lawyers' litigation rights has been ensured, such as meeting with the clients, consulting relevant files, making investigation and taking evidence, information, expressing their views, and not being monitored while meeting with clients. Measures has been taken to make law enforcers to be more aware of their obligations to inform criminal suspects and defendants of their rights, and to inform legal aid institutions and assist legal aid institutions in recording and transferring case information and arranging meetings. And also, the implementation of remedies such as complaint for defenders or agents ad litem while public security departments, procuratorates, courts don't honor their obligation to inform clients of their right to legal aid.

Legal aid institutions have set up partnership relations with lawyers societies, social organizations and legal clinics of law schools, encouraging and supporting such organizations to provide criminal legal aid services for the public interests by relying on their own resources to meet demands of criminal suspects and defendants from different aspects for criminal legal aid.

Ⅴ Quality Management of Criminal Legal Aid Being Constantly Strengthened

The Chinese government pays great attention on the quality of criminal legal aid services. The Ministry of Justice has been making great efforts to enhance the management of legal aid quality, and promote the construction of standardized legal aid, has set up and improved rules and regulations for each chain of the work of legal aid, evaluation mechanisms for law enforcement during legal aid and quality management mechanisms for case handling. The Ministry has also put forward new requirements for each province. For example, each province should make its own normative documents on quality management of case handling, make specific requirements for the qualification of lawyers according to the natures of different cases and form a professional team of lawyers of criminal legal aid, and continue to improve the dynamic control of the quality of criminal legal aid services through different measures such as attending court hearings, collective discussion for important or tough cases, asking opinions of aid recipients, asking opinions of the concerned policemen, prosecutors and judges, and peer review. The Ministry provides various training and research activities of criminal legal aid and is developing a national network support system for the handling of legal aid cases to constantly improve the capability of lawyers to provide legal aid services.

Ⅵ International Cooperation on Criminal Legal Aid Deepening

Through various international exchange programs on legal aid, and based on China's real situation, we are learning from beneficial experience and practices of legal aid of foreign countries, and promoting the development of criminal legal aid in China. The Ministry of Justice now has cooperative program such as exchange progamme of legal aid staff between eastern and western areas of China, duty lawyer pilot programme in Henan Province, and Canada-China Legal Aid and Community Legal Services Project, with UNDP, the Canadian International Development Agency, the European Union, and UNODC to push forward criminal legal aid in the under-developed west part of China, and explore ways and methods of providing convenient and efficient legal aid services for criminal suspects and defendants. As a result, the capacity of management and service of criminal legal aid has been enhanced, and thus the quality of criminal legal aid has been improved constantly.

Ⅶ Future Prospects

In the past two decades, with comprehensive promotion of rule of law, the legal aid cause in China has made great achievements. However, just like in any other country, it is also faced with many difficulties and challenges such as a great demand for legal aid as a result of a large population in need, insufficient legal aid funding and human resources as well as regional imbalance, and off-standard legal aid services. In particular, the reform of judicial system has put forward stricter requirements for how to implement the government's responsibility for legal aid and promote the development of legal aid in a comprehensive manner.

The legal aid cause in China is enjoying favorable opportunities of development. President Xi Jinping explicitly stated that while the scope of legal aid is being enlarged gradually, the work of legal aid should focus on the real need of economic and social development and the improvement of quality of legal aid services, and that efforts should be made to build mechanism of public legal service. Under the new situation and faced with new tasks, Minister Wu Aiying stressed at the national meeting for director-generals of the judicial administrative system in 2015 that the legal aid system should be improved, the scope expanded, the financial guarantee improved, and legislation for legal aid promoted. In the future, the Ministry of Justice will focus on the requirements for forwarding the modernization of national governance system and capacity, and based on economic and social conditions and needs of people with financial difficulties and special groups, actively participate in activities of deepening the reform of the judicial system, and enhance construction of the legal aid system in a comprehensive manner to continuously improve the level of rule of law in legal aid work. Looking into the future, we have each and every reason to believe that the legal aid cause in China will embrace better development.