Attorney Shao Shiwei | When Police Ask You to Sign a Plea of Guilty and Acceptance of Punishment, Should You Plead Guilty or Not?

• Is it better to plead guilty or not to plead guilty?

• Does pleading guilty mean that one has solidified the facts of one's crime, leaving no room for defense in the future?

• Will pleading guilty lead to a heavier sentence in the future?

• At the public security stage, if one chooses to plead guilty in order to obtain release on bail pending trial and temporarily gain freedom, will one still be arrested afterward?

• If one has pleaded guilty, is there still any point in retaining a lawyer?

• What should I do if I am willing to plead guilty and accept punishment but do not accept the charge as stated?

• If I do not plead guilty, can I still fight for a glimmer of hope and try to improve the odds?

• Does it mean that as long as I do not plead guilty, the police can do nothing about me and cannot prove that I committed a crime?

• How much does pleading guilty versus not pleading guilty affect the sentence I will receive in the future?

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Before considering these questions, the client and family members first need a preliminary understanding of the legal provisions on pleading guilty and accepting punishment.

From the above legal provisions, we can see that:

• Pleading guilty and accepting punishment is a statutory circumstance for leniency; on the premise that the party constitutes a crime, depending on the circumstances of the individual case, pleading guilty and accepting punishment may give rise to different possibilities such as a lighter punishment, a reduced punishment, or exemption from punishment;

• The public security organ has an obligation to inform the party of the legal provisions concerning pleading guilty and accepting punishment and lenient treatment;

• Ascertaining whether the party voluntarily pleads guilty and accepts punishment is a statutory duty of the public security organ.

However,parties and their family members often fall into a mistaken way of thinkingthat is: during interrogation, the police asking me to sign the "Notification on the Lenient System for Pleading Guilty and Accepting Punishment" means they are asking me to plead guilty, and I do not know whether I actually constitute a crime,Once signed, does that conclusively establish guilt?？

What we ordinarily call a "plea of guilty and acceptance of punishment" refers to the Plea of Guilty and Acceptance of Punishment Statement signed by the party during the procuratorate stage, rather than the Notice of the Leniency System for Pleading Guilty and Accepting Punishment signed during the public security investigation stage as mentioned above.What is the difference between the two?？

The Notice of the Leniency System for Pleading Guilty and Accepting Punishment primarily informs the party of matters relating to the leniency system for pleading guilty and accepting punishment; it does not involve a specific sentencing recommendation and is a document in the nature of a rights notice.

The Plea of Guilty and Acceptance of Punishment Statement is a document signed where both the prosecution and the defense have no objection to the facts of the case, the sentencing of the party, or the charge; because the content of the statement creates legal binding force, under the law the party must sign it with the confirmation and witnessing of defense counsel and with knowledge of the legal consequences that may arise after signing.

Therefore, a "plea of guilty and acceptance of punishment" during the investigation stageis in fact more a notification of rights by the judicial authorities to the party and a reflection of the party's attitude toward admitting guilt, and does not directly equate to the future direction of the case. In other words, expressing a voluntary plea of guilty and acceptance of punishment during the investigation stage does not mean the party will necessarily be convicted or heavily sentenced. Of course, the absence of a plea of guilty and acceptance of punishment during the investigation stage does not mean the party is necessarily innocent.

Then, if the party pleads guilty and accepts punishment during the investigation stage,and this is not linked to the outcome of the case, on what basis do the judicial authorities determine guilt and sentencing?

Under the law, the standard of proof for a guilty verdict against a party is that "the facts of the case are clear and the evidence is reliable and sufficient," to the exclusion of reasonable doubt.

We will speak directly through cases to demonstrate that the legal provisions themselves are not "a dead letter."

The following cases personally handled by Lawyer Shao can illustrate that a plea of guilty and acceptance of punishment at the investigation stage does not affect the review of the case at the procuratorate and court stages. A brief list is as follows:

• In a certain fraud case, the public security authority withdrew the case (for details, see ➡️ "Successful Case | A Certain NFT Digital Collectibles Platform Was Arrested on Suspicion of Fraud and Ultimately Concluded with a Not-Guilty Outcome!》）；

• In a certain loan-assistance case, the public security authority withdrew the case (the "Success Case | A loan-assistance company suspected of the crime of infringing citizens' personal information; counsel maintained a not-guilty defense and ultimately secured withdrawal of the case by the public security authority!》）；

• In a certain case of falsely issuing special VAT invoices, the procuratorate decided not to prosecute；

• In a certain case of occupational embezzlement, the court imposed a suspended sentence；

Therefore, where the party voluntarily pleads guilty and accepts punishment during the investigation stage,this will not have a substantive impact on counsel's defense workHow the case will subsequently be handled still requires defense counsel, after reviewing the case file, to formulate the defense strategy most favorable to the party for the individual case in light of the actual circumstances.

Moreover, even at the procuratorate stage, the party's signing of a legally effective "Plea of Guilty and Acceptance of Punishment Statement" only simplifies the procedure. As to evidence, the judicial authorities must still conduct a comprehensive review.

We cite a guiding case of the Supreme People's Court (Guiding Case No. 1411) to illustrate—Criminal casethe standard of proof is not lowered merely because the defendant pleads guilty and accepts punishment：

Having said all of the above,does it mean that pleading guilty and accepting punishment is still preferable during the investigation stage?Of course not.

Every individual case has its own particularities, and the imposition of compulsory measures does not necessarily mean that the party concerned has committed a crime. As to whether to plead guilty and accept punishment during the investigation stage, the legal analysis provided to the party by defense counsel based on the circumstances of the individual case and years of defense experience is of significant importance to the case itself.

For example, in a fraud case that Lawyer Shao recently handled, after meeting with the party to understand the circumstances of the case and collecting relevant case materials,this lawyer firmly believes that the party concerned does not constitute the crime of fraud, nor does any other crime apply.After multiple communications with the handling prosecutor and the submission of an opinion against approval of arrest, the client was released from custody on the 35th day of criminal detention.

It should also be emphasized that, under the law, pleading guilty and accepting punishment requires the client to make the decision voluntarily; neither the case-handling police officer, the prosecutor, nor defense counsel may require the client to make a particular choice or give a particular undertaking, because the legal consequences are ultimately borne by the client.

This question may seem a little convoluted, but it is of significant importance to the client.

Under Article 347 of the Interpretation of the Criminal Procedure Law, "pleading guilty" as provided in Article 15 of the Criminal Procedure Law means that a criminal suspect or defendant voluntarily and truthfully confesses his or her crime and raises no objection to the criminal facts alleged; "accepting punishment" means that the criminal suspect or defendant sincerely repents and is willing to accept punishment.

Therefore, if the client decides to plead guilty and accept punishment but his or her statements on the case facts do not meet the standards prescribed by law, this will not produce the legal effect of a voluntary guilty plea and acceptance of punishment.

The resulting consequence may be that a case in which release on bail pending trial could originally have been obtained at the investigation stage,because the client did not truly understand the legal concept of pleading guilty and accepting punishment, results in the procuratorate approving arrest, and the client will remain in custody throughout the investigation of the case.

Sowhat is pleading guilty and accepting punishment in the legal sense?Depending on the circumstances of the individual case, the answer may differ; for example:

• The client destroyed relevant evidence before being placed under criminal detention (for example, by deleting chat records, destroying materials involved in the case, or uninstalling mobile apps), but truthfully confessed the facts of the case;

• The client truthfully confessed only the facts of the case relating to himself or herself, but remained tight-lipped about the circumstances of co-defendants;

• The client stated only the conduct in which he or she was involved, but took the position that such conduct does not constitute a crime;

• The client did not confess or concealed what he or she did, but expressed willingness to plead guilty and accept punishment;

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If the client engaged in such conduct, does it count as an attitude of pleading guilty and accepting punishment? Will it affect defense counsel's application for release on bail pending trial for the client during the investigation stage? These are common but contested issues in practice, which require specific analysis of specific issues on a case-by-case basis and cannot be judged in a one-size-fits-all manner.

The issues discussed in this article can be said to be among the high-frequency questions that criminal defense lawyers are often asked in their daily work.

It is hoped that the explanation in this article will enable clients and their family members to have a more comprehensive and multi-dimensional understanding of this issue.

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