On the Complete Realization of the Right to Silence in China from the Perspective of the Role Change of the Accused

Abstract

Since the Zhou Dynasty, China has a tradition of “emphasizing confession”. Until now, “confession centrism” is still a deep-rooted judicial concept in the minds of judicial personnel. This leads to the repeated prohibition of extorting confessions by torture in our country, and eventually leads to many unjust and false cases. The long-term judicial tradition from “no confession without conviction” to “Leniency for confession and strictness for resistance” has made the accused bear different functions according to their different status in various stages of criminal proceedings, which makes the role overload, role conflict and role tension of the ordinary criminal accused more prominent, and even lead to the extreme situation of role collapse. To give the defendant an opportunity to change his identity may help us to find a solution to the complete realization of the right to silence and the protection of the right to abstain.