On the Establishment of Chinese System of Right of Silence

As one of important litigious rights of the suspect and defendant, the right of silence is considered as a symbol that marks the procedural democracy and the level of civilization of a nation. Since the right of silence has been listed in one of the basic safeguards of criminal justice in the UN Code of Criminal Justice, it is necessary to introduce such a right into Chinese Criminal Procedure Law. Based on this consideration, this author gives some ideas as to how to establish the right of silence system in China, e.g., explicitly stipulating that the suspect and defendant have the right to silence; taking some measures that encourage the suspect and defendant to confess; launching an exclusion rule to involuntary confession; establishing exception system of the right of silence in some special cases, etc..