What is the significance of the two "leaps" in the procuratorial recommendations for social governance?

Based on the institutional originality of China's procuratorial practice, the procuratorial suggestions for social governance have ushered in two "leaps" in the new era——

From punishment to governance, from handling to handling

Key Points:

▶ The procuratorial recommendations on social governance are the embodiment of the procuratorial organs' active performance of their duties in accordance with the law, and reflect the constitutional positioning of the legal supervision organs and the requirements of active judicial policies.

▶ From "punishing crimes" to "governance", and then from "handling" to "handling and resuming", the two "leaps" in concept have laid the foundation for the steady and far-reaching implementation of the procuratorial suggestions on social governance.

▶ Procuratorial cases cannot be handled on the basis of cases, and must look at the reasons behind the case, find loopholes in the mechanism and management, and start from the perspective of rectification and effectiveness, and issue procuratorial suggestions to relevant departments to promote governance at the source.

In the construction of the rule of law, it is necessary to grasp the end and treat the disease, and more importantly, to grasp the front end and treat the disease before it happens.

It has been five years since the "People's Procuratorate Provisions on Procuratorial Suggestion Work" came into effect. Under the active promotion of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the value of procuratorial suggestions in "grasping the front end and curing the disease before it happens" has become increasingly prominent.

As one of the five types of social governance procuratorial suggestions, it adheres to the performance positioning of plugging loopholes in social governance and unit management, and expands procuratorial organs from traditional case handling to the overall pattern of social governance, showing good achievements in social governance, and also attracting the attention of practical and academic circles.

Some people say that the social governance procuratorial recommendations expand the way procurators perform their duties; Some people also believe that the procuratorial suggestions on social governance have enriched the legal supervision system with Chinese characteristics; Some scholars believe that the procuratorial suggestions for social governance are a microcosm of the development of the procuratorial system in the new era......

Now, on the new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way, in the great journey of supporting and serving Chinese-style modernization with the modernization of procuratorial work, and facing the requirements of the concept of "handling every case with high quality and efficiency", the procuratorial suggestions for social governance have reached a higher level, which is a great trust, a responsibility, and a mission.

Two "leaps"

"As long as the "Cancellation and Liquidation Report" is issued, the cancellation registration can be completed. The lack of information exchange between the registration authorities and other administrative departments has made 'false liquidation' prevalent, which has affected the effectiveness of the reform of 'delegating power, delegating power, and providing services'. ”

In handling a case of recourse to labor remuneration, the Shanghai Hongkou District Procuratorate noticed a loophole in the mechanism of "simplified deregistration" – the company involved in the case successfully deregistered despite the fact that the labor inspection department had already opened a case for investigation and a large amount of wages had not been paid.

On the basis of handling individual cases, the Hongkou District Procuratorate issued procuratorial recommendations to relevant departments to standardize the "simple cancellation" of social governance, promoted the establishment of an information exchange and connection mechanism, and worked with administrative organs to implement the reform of "delegating power, delegating power, and providing services".

"Procuratorial cases cannot be 'watched from across the strait.'" Talking about the considerations when handling the case, the procurator handling the case said that if a common and symptomatic problem is discovered, the procurator must take a step forward in performing its duties and actively integrate into social governance in accordance with the law.

The above-mentioned practice of the Hongkou District Procuratorate is a microcosm of the procuratorial suggestions for social governance in recent years.

Recently, the Jindong District Procuratorate of Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, in view of the problems found in the case of germplasm resources, breeding technology, breeding and processing, production and marketing, and no formal seedling cultivation (sales) places, issued social governance procuratorial suggestions to the agricultural and rural departments, suggesting to promote the acceleration of the construction of seed industry bases and standardize the seedling sales market.

The reporter noted that with the in-depth development of the procuratorial suggestions for social governance, both the theoretical and practical circles have gradually formed a consensus on the work - in view of the social governance problems found in the procuratorial case, the procuratorial organs put forward procuratorial suggestions to the relevant units to promote the source of governance, which is an important way for the procuratorial organs to actively perform their duties in accordance with the law and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.

"A change of concept and innovation of methods and methods." In the view of Yang Jianshun, a professor at the Law School of Chinese People's University, procuratorial organs promoting source governance is the procuratorial implementation of the Party Central Committee's "building a social governance pattern of joint construction, co-governance and sharing".

"What if after the social governance procuratorial recommendations are formulated and issued, the supervised objects do not implement them or implement them perfunctorily?" After the procuratorial recommendations on social governance reached a certain scale, the party group of the Supreme People's Procuratorate keenly noticed the dialectical relationship between "quantity and quality" -- both quantity and quantity.

After the procuratorial organs across the country gradually formed a consciousness of the work of procuratorial suggestions on social governance, the party group of the Supreme People's Procuratorate noticed that the quality of handling procuratorial suggestions on social governance has a bearing on long-term development. Ying Yong, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Procurator General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, stressed the need to improve the quality of procuratorial suggestions for social governance, continue to promote the transformation from "handling" to "handling", and promote governance at the source. Since then, "from 'handling' to 'handling'" has become the basic requirement for the high-quality and efficient development of social governance procuratorial recommendations.

"The procuratorial suggestions for social governance are the original achievements of the socialist procuratorial system with Chinese characteristics." In the view of Zhang Xunyin, an associate professor at the National Prosecutors College, in the new era, procuratorial suggestions can play more and more social governance effects, which is inseparable from the correct guidance of the above concepts.

"From 'punishment' to 'governance', and then from 'handling' to 'handling', these two conceptual 'leaps' have laid the foundation for the steady and far-reaching implementation of the procuratorial recommendations for social governance." She said.

"The two 'leaps' have shaped the excellent quality of the procuratorial suggestions for social governance in the new era. Procuratorial suggestions on social governance have become an important measure for the modernization of procuratorial work to support and serve Chinese-style modernization. Zhang Xunyin said, "from 'punishment' to 'governance'" and "from 'handling' to 'handling'", not only demonstrates the far-sighted deployment and arrangement of the Supreme People's Procuratorate Party Group for the procuratorial suggestions for social governance in the new era, but also a profound interpretation of the basic value pursuit of "handling every case with high quality and efficiency".

Consensus-building

"It's a matter within the purview of the administrative organs, so why should the procuratorate intervene?" "The procuratorate just needs to handle the case well, what kind of social governance procuratorial suggestions will you send us?" "It doesn't belong to the same system, and it feels strange that the procuratorial organs give tasks to the administrative organs." ……

Once upon a time, similar problems were the biggest obstacle to advancing the work of procuratorial suggestions on social governance. At the beginning, under the situation of supervision business, which is mainly based on litigation supervision, the procuratorial suggestions were used to promote comprehensive social governance, and there was no widespread consensus on the active performance of duties in accordance with the law.

"The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward the concept of 'social governance', and the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward the requirements of 'improving the social governance system of party committee leadership, government responsibility, democratic consultation, social coordination, public participation, rule of law guarantee, and scientific and technological support, and building a social governance community where everyone is responsible, everyone is responsible, and everyone enjoys', which provides a basis for carrying out social governance procuratorial suggestions." Liu Yi, a professor at the Government Research Institute of the Rule of Law at China University of Political Science and Law, believes that the procuratorate, as a legal supervision organ, actively joins the network structure of social governance, which can show pragmatic and efficient social governance results.

Liu Yi said that the grand view of the procuratorial suggestions for social governance is the result of the comprehensive effect of various factors such as the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, the rule of law country, the rule of law government, the integrated construction of the rule of law society, and the reform of the procuratorial system in the new era.

"Different from the litigation supervision method, the social governance procuratorial suggestion, as a non-litigation supervision method for procuratorial organs to perform legal supervision duties in accordance with the law, emphasizes more on the supervision concept of collaborative consultation and win-win results, and reflects the requirements of active performance of duties in accordance with the law." Zhang Xunyin said.

"The procuratorial recommendations on social governance have witnessed the development of the procuratorial cause in recent years, and are also synchronized with the cause of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics." Zhang Xunyin said.

Tang Weijian, a deputy to the National People's Congress and a professor at the Law School of the Chinese People's University, said in an interview that the procuratorial suggestions for social governance are different from the litigation supervision function, and are the embodiment of the procuratorial organs' ability to perform their duties in accordance with the law, and the source of their power is the Constitution's functional positioning of legal supervision organs and the policy requirements of procuratorial organs to exercise judicial power in accordance with the law.

Tang Weijian once conducted a detailed analysis of the social governance procuratorial recommendations formulated and issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate. He believes that from the development of the procuratorial suggestion system for social governance, we can see the innovative development and continuous struggle of the procuratorial system in New China. Tang Weijian said that the social governance procuratorial suggestions show the advantages of the socialist procuratorial system with Chinese characteristics, and under the traction and leverage of the social governance procuratorial suggestions, the innovation and transformation of the legal supervision system of the procuratorial organs have entered a new stage, and promoted the development and improvement of the socialist procuratorial supervision system with Chinese characteristics.

"To the greatest extent possible, the legal supervision function of the procuratorial organs should be demonstrated." Tang Weijian said.

Why is it high quality and efficiency?

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to "strengthen the legal supervision of procuratorial organs" and "promote multi-level and multi-field governance according to law, and improve the level of social governance under the rule of law". Among the 36 reform tasks listed in the Supreme People's Procuratorate's "2023-2027 Procuratorial Reform Work Plan", "deepening the reform of the governance of the source of litigation in the procuratorial link" is listed among them, and it is required to improve the mechanism for the establishment, transmission, evaluation, evaluation and implementation of procuratorial suggestions for social governance.

Not long ago, Procurator General Ying Yong once again pointed out the procuratorial suggestions in his signed article "Serving the Overall Situation, Serving the People's Justice, and Serving the Rule of Law" - procuratorial suggestions are an important measure to promote the governance of litigation sources. Procuratorial cases cannot be handled on the basis of cases, and must look at the reasons behind the case, find loopholes in the mechanism and management, and start from the perspective of rectification and effectiveness, and issue procuratorial suggestions to relevant departments to promote governance at the source.

In the process of modernizing procuratorial work, in accordance with the basic value pursuit of procuratorial performance and case handling in the new era of "handling every case with high quality and efficiency", the party group of the Supreme People's Procuratorate emphasized that it is necessary to improve the quality of procuratorial suggestions, focus on solving problems, and continue to follow up and supervise after procuratorial suggestions are issued, and continue to promote the transformation from "handling" to "handling and replying".

Regarding this requirement, Zhang Xunyin explained to reporters that entering a new journey, the party and the state have put forward higher requirements for the positioning and mission of the procuratorial organs, and promoted the effective response of the proposed subject to the procuratorial suggestions on social governance, which is the active response of the procuratorial organs to the higher expectations of the party and the country, and is also an important path to achieve "handling every case with high quality and efficiency".

The reporter noted that from 2020, the Supreme People's Procuratorate has continuously carried out the selection of outstanding social governance procuratorial suggestions of procuratorial organs across the country, and the Law and Policy Research Office of the Supreme People's Procuratorate has undertaken this work. Hua Meng, director of the Civil and Administrative Law Research Division of the Law and Policy Research Office of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, has an in-depth observation of how to do a good job in social governance procuratorial suggestions, and has refined the "high-quality and efficient" work ideas of "identifying the theme, standardizing procedures, clarifying problems, proposing countermeasures, tracking implementation, and supervising and supporting" of social governance procuratorial suggestions.

Among the above six links, Zhu Dongyue, head of the relevant departments of the Neixiang County Procuratorate in Henan Province, has a deep understanding of the link of "clarifying the problem".

When handling a case of false litigation supervision, Zhu Dongyue noticed that local bank staff colluded with the actual users of the money inside and outside to fraudulently obtain loans by taking advantage of the status of "white households" of special vulnerable groups such as poor households, low-income households, and the disabled, resulting in a large number of fraudulent (borrowed) loans, which not only caused huge losses of credit funds, but also seriously infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of special groups.

With the development of investigation and verification, Zhu Dongyue gradually found the root cause of the problem - imperfect credit management, and loans were issued only on the basis of the identity certificate of the borrower and the confirmation of the paper signature, and there was a hidden financial security hazard of collusion between internal and external parties to make "empty bill" loans. As a result, the Neixiang County Procuratorate issued procuratorial suggestions on social governance to relevant departments, promoted the management of fraudulent (borrowed) loans, and plugged the loopholes in the local financial industry.

While the procuratorial organs are putting pressure on themselves and improving the quality of social governance procuratorial suggestions, the academic community is also paying more attention to the guarantee mechanism for the "reply" of social governance procuratorial suggestions.

"It is necessary to do a good job in the 'second half of the article' of legal supervision." In Tang Weijian's view, the formulation and issuance of social governance procuratorial suggestions is only the beginning, from "handling" to "handling" change, from "should" governance to "real" governance approaching, the implementation of social governance procuratorial recommendations, effective and the formation of a long-term mechanism, is an arduous process, which requires the procuratorial organs to follow up and supervise, and work for a long time.

Source: Procuratorate Daily