Chất lượng xét xử sơ thẩm vụ án hình sự từ thực tiễn tỉnh hải dương tt tieng anh

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
L

PHAM VAN TUYEN

THE QUALITY OF FIRST-INSTANCE TRIAL FOR
CRIMINAL CASES IN HAI DUONG PROVINCE

Major: Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure
Major code: 9.38.01.04

S UMMARY OF THE DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
IN LAW

Hanoi - 2021


The dissertation completed at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences,
Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tat Vien

Reviewer 1: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Do
Reviewer 2:Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Luyen
Reviewer 3: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Thi Minh Son

The dissertation will be defended at Graduate Academy Level Council of
dissertation assessment at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam
Academy of Social Sciences, 477 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi.
Time: ………… date ………. month …… …year 2021

The dissertation may be found at:
- Vietnam National Library;
- Graduate Academy of Social Sciences Library


INTRODUCTION
1. The necessity of the research topic
Trial is a key mission of judicial activities and the Court holds a central
position in the system of judicial agencies. Through trial, the Court plays an
important role in protecting justice, human rights, legitimate rights and
interests of the state and the people. In the criminal field, the Court is the
only institution that having jurisdiction to hear a person charged with
committing a crime and penalty. With such importance, assurance of trial
quality is an essential requirement. Particularly, first-instance trial for
criminal case is the opening stage for the whole trial activity, all matters
related to the case are considered and decided by the Court, thus ensuring
trial quality for criminal cases is the first requirement for first-instance trial.
A first-instance judgment is tried objectively, comprehensively, properly by
the law will reduce the rate of appeals and protests under the appellate
order, contributing to reducing costs and creating the people’s trust towards
the Court.
Assessing the court performance, of which trial is a key activity, aims to
create a basis for ensuring trial quality is always one of the leading concerns
in Vietnam. The Politburo Resolution No. 08/NQ-TW dated January 20,
2002 and Resolution No. 49/NQ-TW dated June 2, 2005 set out key
requirements and tasks of hearing, accordingly, the Court must ensure that
all citizens are equal to the law, really democracy, objectiveness, and make
judgements and decisions in accordance with the law, convincingly, within
the allotted time.

Examining comprehensively and systematically trial quality by specific
criteria so as to propose solutions to ensure and improve the quality of trial
for criminal cases, in which, the quality of first-instance trial for criminal
cases is an urgent requirement. To address this important task, the author
has conducted the research titled “The quality of first-instance trial for
criminal cases in Hai Duong province”.
2. Research purpose and tasks
2.1. Research purpose

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The dissertation presents scientific arguments on the quality of firstinstance trial for criminal cases and identifies criteria and factors affecting
the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases. It also analyzes and
evaluates the current state of the quality of first-instance trial for criminal
cases through the trial practice of two-level People’s Courts in Hai Duong
province, thenceforth, it proposes solutions to ensure and improve the
quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases.
2.2. Research tasks
The dissertation aims to systematize theoretical awareness of the trial
and trial quality, thenceforth, it clarifies the basic theoretical issues on the
quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases; to analyze legal regulations
related to the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases; to assess the
quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases through the trial practice of
two-level People’s Courts in Hai Duong province; to propose solutions to
ensure and improve the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases.
3. Research subject and scope
3.1. Research subject: the theoretical issues on the quality of firstinstance trial for criminal cases, the current state of the law and the trial
practice of two-level People’s Courts in Hai Duong province.
3.2. Research scope

- Regarding contents: the research scope for “first-instance trial for
criminal cases” is the activity conducted by the People’s Court (without the
Military Court). The dissertation just approaches the quality of firstinstance trial for criminal cases from the provisions of the criminal law and
criminal procedure.
- Regarding time and space: the dissertation examines regulations related to
the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases of the People’s Court in the
Criminal Code 2015 and the Criminal Procedure Code 2015, and the guiding
documents comparing with regulations of the Criminal Code 1999 and the
Criminal Procedure Code 2003. Statistics from 2011 to 2019.
4. Methodology and research methods

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The dissertation is based on the methodology of dialectical materialism
and historical materialism, Ho Chi Minh's thoughts on the state and law, the
Party and State’s viewpoints on building a socialist rule-of-law State.
Specific research methods include:
- The study utilizes methods of analysis, synthesis and systematics to
analyze and present the concepts of trial quality, the quality of first-instance
trial for criminal cases; to identify factors affecting the quality of firstinstance trial for criminal cases, as well as principles, criteria, factors
affecting the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases.
- Method of comparative jurisprudence is used to examine experiences
of countries around the world in order to identify content of the concept of
the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases and criteria for the
quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases.
- Methods of discussion, interview with experts and analysis are used to
identify requirements of improving the quality of first-instance trial for
criminal cases.
- Methods of practical survey, case studies, statistics of competent state

agencies are used to evaluate major results reflecting the quality of firstinstance trial for criminal cases.
- Research methods can be used intermittently and approach multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary.
5. New contributions of the dissertation
On the basis of systematizing scientific viewpoints on the quality of
first-instance trial for criminal cases, the dissertation presents the concept
and criteria for the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases, and
factors affecting the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases in
Vietnam.
By assessing the current state of the quality of first-instance trial for
criminal cases in practice of two-level People’s Courts in Hai Duong
province, the dissertation identifies the necessary of ensuring and
improving the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases, thenceforth,
it proposes viewpoints and solutions to improve the quality of first-instance
trial for criminal cases.
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6. Theoretical and practical significance of the dissertation
Theoretically: The dissertation seeks to supplement and develop
scientific arguments on the quality of first-instance trial of the People’s
Court.
Practically: The research findings of the dissertation contribute to
ensuring and improving the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases
and can be used as reference for researching, teaching and learning.
7. Structure of the dissertation
Besides the introduction, conclusion, and references, the dissertation
includes 4 chapters
Chapter 1
LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Research situation in Vietnam

1.1.1. Research works on first-instance trial for criminal cases
In Vietnam, so far there have been many studies on first-instance trial
for criminal cases with different approaches.
First, research works on trial activity to be approached from perspective
in the name of state power to exercise judicial power or the state’s trial
function
Typically, “Judicial power in the Socialist rule-of-law state of the
people, by the people and for the people in Vietnam” by Prof. Dr. Vo
Khanh Vinh, Review of State and Law, 2003; “The judicial institution in the
rule-of-law state” by Nguyen Dang Dung, Justice Publishing House, 2004;
“Strategy of judicial reform-theoretical and practical issues” by Dao Tri Uc,
Review of State and Law, 2004. “The judicial system and judicial reform in
Vietnam” by Dao Tri Uc, Social Science Publishing House, 2002; “Judicial
reform and litigation issue” by Nguyen Manh Khang and many other
scientific works. Although these studies do not directly mention firstinstance trial for criminal cases, this is the basic reasoning on judicial power
including trial activity. These studies are common consensus on trial
content that is in the name of state power to assess and make decisions on
the legality and correctness of legal acts or legal decisions while happening
disputes and contradictions in society.
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Second: Research works directly mention first-instance trial for criminal
cases
Typically, “Completing first-instance trial procedures for criminal cases
to meet the requirement of judicial reform in Vietnam” by Nguyen Thi
Thuy, Review of State and Law, 2009; “First-instance trial in criminal
proceedings of Vietnam” by Vo Thi Kim Oanh and some other research
works. From these studies, we can see that the process of resolving a
specific criminal case must go through many different stages, in which,

first-instance trial is an important stage. The concept of “first-instance” has
many different meanings, for example, the case is heard at the lowest-level
court or the case is brought to trial for the first time or hearing the case that
defendants, litigants have the right to appeal and the Procuracy has the right
to protest against a decision.
Third: research works on ensuring the principles of first-instance trial
for criminal cases
Typically, “Some issues on litigation in criminal proceedings” by Le
Tien Chau, Journal of Legal Science, No. 1, 2003; “Some measures to
ensure the implementation of principle that judges and jurors are
independent and just obey the law while hearing” by Pham Hong Hai,
Review of State and Law, No. 5, 2003 and many other research works.
1.1.2. Research works related to conception of trial quality
In dictionaries such Vietnamese dictionary by Hoang Phe, VASS, 1997;
Sino-Vietnamese dictionary and language by Nguyen Lan, HCMC
Publishing House, 1989, “quality” is often used opposition to quantity and
refers to internal characteristics that make up an object quality and value.
Doctoral dissertation title “The quality of hearing administrative cases
by the provincial People’s Court in Vietnam today” by Than Quoc Hung,
HCM National Academy of Politics, 2018 introduces the concept: “The
quality of hearing administrative cases by the provincial People’s Court is
the results of the process of evaluating, using evidence and applying the law
of the Court to make correct and objective verdict in accordance with legal
regulations and ethical standards of society in order to promptly settle
disputes arising from administrative legal relations”.
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The concepts of “trial quality” and “trial effect” are often referred
together and similarities. The effectiveness of hearing criminal cases in

general has been mentioned in the doctoral dissertation “The effectiveness
of trial activities in criminal proceedings” by Hoang Manh Hung, GASS,
2010. Accordingly, the effectiveness of trial activities means “the social
values that the judgment brings to restore social relations and ensure social
order as well as enforcing the law by aspects of politics, economy, culture,
national defense and other requirements of social progress”. With this
approach, it seems that “trial quality” and “trial effect” have many
interference points in terms of influencing factors.
1.1.3. Research works related to criteria for trial quality
Doctoral dissertation titled “The quality of hearing administrative cases
by the provincial People’s Court in Vietnam today” by Than Quoc Hung,
HCM National Academy of Politics, 2018 introduces criteria for assessing
trial quality in administrative cases of the provincial People’s Court
including (1) The professional ethical criteria of administrative proceedingconducting persons; (2) Criteria for compliance with the law in hearing
administrative cases of the provincial People’s Court; (3) Criteria of
professional, skills in hearing administrative cases of the provincial
People’s Court; (4) Criteria for the Court’s verdict quantity to be canceled
or modified.
Doctoral dissertation titled “Applying the law for first-instance trial for
criminal cases by the Military Court in Vietnam today” by Duong Van
Thang, HCM National Graduate Academy of Politics, 2007, identifying
factors affecting the law application for first-instance trial for criminal cases
by the Military Court including (1) The quality of the legal system; (2)
Capacity, qualifications and qualities of the subjects applying the law (3)
The Party Committees leadership for trial work; (4) Appropriateness of the
organizational structure of the military courts and the judicial support
agencies; (5) effective co-ordination and regulatory relationships among
proceeding-conducting agencies; (6) Facilities, equipment and remuneration
policy; and (7) The elected bodies supervision and promote the people’s
mastery.

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In “Legal protection agencies” by Prof. Dr. Vo Khanh Vinh, People’s
Public Security Publishing House, 2003 emphasizes the rules of the Court’s
trial, mechanisms of ensuring the court’s operation and factors affecting the
court’s performance.
From studies mentioned above, it can be seen that evaluation of the trial
quality has been examined in Vietnam, but the study on criteria for quality
evaluation of applying the law of the Court or the trial quality has just
mentioned general criteria and without component criteria, and there is no
linkage among criteria for evaluating the trial quality with factors affecting
the trial quality.
1.2. Research situation abroad
1.2.1. Research works on the conception of trial quality
The term “quality” is often used as a technical concept to refer to the
quality of goods, services or providing the quality of goods and services in
private sector. Then, the idea of “quality thinking” is applied to evaluate
services-provided not only by the private sector but also by the public
sector including the judiciary. Thus, the terms “quality of justice” or
"judicial quality” appeared. Accordingly, “justice” is considered a public
service and the quality of justice means the quality of providing a public
service.
These studies have partly mentioned “trial quality” and “trial quality for
criminal cases” but they have not given the concept of “trial quality”.
However, these studies’ goal is to “measure” the Court’s trial activity.
1.2.2. Research works related to criteria for trial quality
In 2006, the UN Office on preventing Drugs and Crime along with
judicial authorities in several countries carried out a study and pointed out
six basic areas of the Court's activities, including: (1) access to justice, (2)

timeliness; (3) the independence, justice and impartiality of the Court; (4)
uniformity; (5) accountability and transparency of judicial authorities; (6)
coordination among stakeholders in the judicial sector.
In the US, judges and scholars have proposed an initiative to develop an
evaluation system aims at enhancing the court’s fair and effective trial
capacity. The outcome of this initiative is the Court's performance standards
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with 68 indicators for 22 standards in 5 different areas, including: (1) access
to justice; (2) timeliness; (3) Equality, fairness and unity; (4) Independence
and accountability; (5) public confidence.
The reform program of Dutch Judiciary has been implemented since
1999 based on the experience of the US Court’s Standard of Operations and
offers 5 areas of assessment including (1) independence and unity; (2)
timeliness of proceedings; (3) uniformity of the law; (4) expertise and (5)
treatment of the parties.
Since 1995, Finland has developed a set of judicial quality assessment
criteria in 6 areas including (1) the process; (2) judgment; (3) treatment of
the parties and the public; (4) promptness of proceedings; (5) competence
and career skills; and (6) organize and manage trial activity.
Thus, many models for assessing judicial quality and court quality have
been developed in each country, region and globally over the past 60 years.
The models’ direction is to not only assess the court’s organizational
aspects but also assess how the court performs its functions and duties, as
well as the people’s feel and satisfaction about the Court.
1.3. General assessment
1.3.1. The research results inherited by the dissertation
1.3. Overall assessment of research situation
Previous research works have mentioned and analyzed trial activity in

the name of state power or the state’s trial function, this is the basic
theoretical basis for determining “trial quality”.
Many foreign studies and some domestic studies have examined
“judicial quality”, “the court’s quality” and “trial effectiveness”, this is the
basis for the author introduces the concept of “trial quality” and distinguish
the concept of “trial quality” from “trial effectiveness”.
1.3.2. Issues need to be further examined
The dissertation seeks to examine and present concepts such as “trial
quality”, “the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases” and criteria
for the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases.
The dissertation seeks to systematize the provisions of the law related to
assessing the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases and analyze
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factors affecting the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases in
Vietnam.
Chapter 2
THEORETICAL ISSUES ON THE QUALITY OF FIRST-INSTANCE
TRIAL FOR CRIMINAL CASES
2.1. The concept and role of the quality of first-instance trial for
criminal cases
2.1.1. The concept of the quality of first-instance trial for criminal
cases
From analysis and interpretation in terms of linguistics and exercising
judicial power, as well as analyzing principle of two-level trial by the court
and first-instance trial as a procedural stage, the author points out 6
characteristics of first-instance trial for criminal cases including:
- The process of exercising judicial power by the state.
- The process of exercising basic function of the criminal proceedings

that is trial function.
- As the first and compulsory trial level for any criminal case.
- Hearing the whole case including all contents of a criminal case
(except cases partially canceled for investigation or re-trial).
- It is conducted on the basis of the Prosecution’s indictment.
- The nature of first-instance trial for criminal cases is applying law of
the court.
From above analysis, the author introduces the concept: “First-instance
trial for criminal cases is an activity in the name of the state conducted by a
competent Court at the first and compulsory trial level for a criminal case
based on the Prosecutor’s indictment to resolve the case and deciding
whether defendant is guilty or not, and applying penalties and judicial
measures for the defendant, as well as dealing with other contents of
criminal case (except cases canceled for re-hearing).
By analyzing the concept of “quality”, comparing “quality” with
“efficiency” and “performance”, the study approaches the concept of
“quality” from perspective of suitability or responsiveness to the purpose
and requirement by this concept: The quality of first-instance trial for
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criminal cases is defined as the degree of satisfying purpose and
requirements of the first-instance trial for criminal cases by a competent
court.
2.1.2. The role of first-instance trial for criminal cases
The study also analyzes and points out the role of first-instance trial for
criminal cases that is: contributing to ensuring and respecting human rights
and citizen rights; to prevent effectively and promptly handle all crimes; to
ensure democracy, justice and equal rights of parties in the process of
determining the truth of the case and criteria for assessing prestige of the

court.
2.2. Criteria for the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases
2.2.1. The concept and meaning of criteria for the quality of firstinstance trial for criminal cases
Criteria for the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases is nature
and effect as a basis for identifying, classifying, and evaluating the degree
of meeting objectives of first-instance trial for criminal cases. While
conducting the study, it is necessary to distinguish “criteria” from
“indicators”. Criteria should be understood as the goals (standards) need to
be achieved, while indicators are used to measure or determine value of that
goals.
2.2.2. Criteria for trial quality in judicial system of several countries
around the world and experience for Vietnam
In the US: CourTools developed by National Center for State Courts.
The CourTools includes 10 indicators for evaluating performance as
follows: (1) Approach and Equity; (2) Resolution rate; (3) Resolution time;
(4) Unprocessed volume of cases; (5) Certainty of trial date; (6) Reliability
and integrity of case files, (7) Collection of fines, (8) Effectiveness of using
jury, (9) Court staff satisfaction and (10) Cost for per case.
In European Countries: In the framework of the Quality Project, a
Quality Standards Task Force was established in 2003 to provide a set of
trial quality standards including six areas: (1) the whole process; (2)
Decisions; (3) How to treat litigants and people; (4) The speed of

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proceedings; (5) Qualifications and professional skills of judges; (6)
Organizing and managing trial.
In Australia: The Performance Review Commission has issued a
“Report on public services”, in which, comparing the performance of courts

across Australia. The main indicators in the report including timeliness; the
cost of solving each case and the rate of solving cases.
In Singapore: Singapore launched “the International Framework for
Court Excellence” (IFCE) to assess the court quality including 6 areas: (1)
The ability to lead the court; (2) Court personnel; (3) Court strategy; (4)
Court infrastructure and procedures; (5) The ability of participants to
participate in the proceedings; (6) Desired results.
Studying trial quality models in some countries around the world, we
can see that there is not specific model or criteria for assessing the quality
of first-instance trial for criminal cases. Countries around the world tend to
assess the court performance quality or judicial quality in a broader
category than “trial quality” and there is not common model or criteria in
countries.
However, we can give some experiences for Vietnam: it is necessary to
define the core values of the Court and trial activity because this is the basis
for defining and building criteria for trial quality. These criteria should be
built to reflect the feelings and views of the persons concerned and others
involved in a case. Building criteria for trial quality should be done by
reasonable order, from determining objectives of hearing to selecting
indicators and methods of data collection and evaluation.
2.2.3. Proposing criteria for the quality of first-instance trial for
criminal cases
From analysis mentioned above, the study proposes basic criteria for
assessing first-instance trial quality for criminal cases:
(1) Guaranteeing criminal proceedings
Trial quality is not only the quality of judgment but also the quality of
process means proceeding procedures because it directly affects the
disputing parties’ ability to access to the court and defend their rights and
interests at the court. If the criminal proceedings are carried out in practice,
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it also means that the fundamental and important principles of the criminal
proceedings will be taken seriously and thereby the objective truths of the
case will be determined. Moreover, in order to make a legal, lawful verdict
or decision, the court's trial activities must also strictly comply with the
provisions of the criminal proceedings.
(2) Quick and timely trial
Quick and timely trial of a criminal case means that the court will
resolve criminal case as quickly as possible and not prolonged. Promptness
and timeliness in the first-instance trial for criminal cases based on the
following indicators: The case is resolved in an optimal time (the shortest
time) in accordance with the provisions of criminal proceedings. The time
of resolving the cases is extended must be based on justifiable grounds and
reasons, and strictly comply with the provisions of the criminal
proceedings. Proceeding participants feel that the first-instance trial for
criminal case was carried out quickly.
(3) The court’s verdict is correct
This criterion includes the following indicators: First, the Court's verdict
is correct. Second, the verdict is consistent with crime’s nature and danger
to the society, identity and aggravating and mitigating circumstances of
criminal liability of the offender. This criterion is assessed by the indicators
about the court verdict rate was appealed, injustice rate and the rate of
verdicts was corrected and canceled.
(4) Ensuring the standard of form and style of the verdict
The verdict is a procedural document, it is not product of the judge but
the product of the court, in the name of the state. Therefore, besides content,
the verdict’s form must also comply with a strict standard, the style must be
legal, concise, clear and easy to understand.
The standard of form and style of the verdict is reflected by component

indicators including the corrected and canceled verdicts due to wrong style,
misspellings, grammar, without logic and incorrect calculation data. The
evaluation of the Appeal Court, the Judgment Execution Agency,
proceeding participants and the people to understand the verdict’s content.
(5) Ensuring transparency and publicity
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Transparency and publicity are an important value of the Bangalore
principle on judicial behavior and international documents on human rights
such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and European
Convention on Human Rights. The principles of transparent and public trial
are also provided in the 2013 Constitution, the Criminal Procedure Code
and other legal procedural documents. Transparency and publicity of the
Court can be assessed by the following criteria: (1) The people and media’s
access to the process of resolving cases by the Court. (2) The people and
media’s access to the verdict and other relevant information. This criterion
requires that the verdict must be posted publicly and by means that the
people can access and assess the verdict.
2.3. Factors affecting the quality of first-instance trial for criminal
cases
2.3.1. Completion of the provisions of the law relating to the firstinstance trial
Trial nature is applying law. Therefore, completion of the provisions of
the law is the factor affecting the quality of first-instance trial for criminal
cases. This completion is shown in the following criteria: (1) The
comprehensiveness of the provisions of the law relating to the first-instance
trial for criminal cases; (2) Consistency and uniformity of the legal
provisions relating to the first-instance trial for criminal cases; (3) The
fairness of the legal provisions relating to the first-instance trial for criminal
cases.

2.3.2. Principle of judicial independence
Judicial independence is a common value of state power in the
contemporary society. It is a means and tool to achieve goals in exercising
state power. Judicial independence is shown in all three aspects: (1) The
independence of the judicial branch from the legislative and executive
branch. Thus, the Court must be institutionally independent, this means that
it must have an organizational system with separate operating regulations,
not similar to the legislature and the executive; (2) The independence of
judges, jurors, and people's jurors while hearing, excluding all acts of direct

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or indirect interference of other individuals or organizations; (3) the
independence of each hearing level.
1.3.3. Controlling judicial power in first-instance trial for criminal
cases
Judicial independence is an important value of a democratic society and
a fundamental principle of the rule-of-law state. However, judicial power as
part of state power can also be abused and it needs to be controlled.
Therefore, the Court's trial should be checked and supervised by state
authorities, the People's Procuracy, socio-political organizations, the mass
media and the people. All these supervision and inspection activities create
pressure upon the Court in general and the Judges in particular force them
to judge in a timely, fair, objective and lawful manner.
2.3.4. Enforcement capacity of the court system
The enforcement capacity of the court system is the ability to perform
and fulfill its functions and duties on the basis of objective and subjective
conditions and factors.
The enforcement capacity of the local court system is shown in the

following aspects: (1) The organizational structure and jurisdiction of the
local People's Courts; (2) The ethical standards, competency and skills of
Judges; (3) Facilities and technical means to ensure the Court's
adjudication.
Chapter 3
CURRENT STATE OF THE QUALITY OF FIRST-INSTANCE
TRIAL FOR CRIMINAL CASES OF TWO-LEVEL PEOPLE’S
COURTS IN HAI DUONG PORVINCE
3.1. Evaluating the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases of
two-level People's Courts in Hai Duong province
3.1.1. Evaluating by criteria for ensuring the proceedings
From 2011 to 2019, two-level People's Courts of Hai Duong province
resolved and heard 9451 criminal cases at first-instance level with 17993
defendants, but there were no cases violating procedures and proceedings
that leading to unjust conviction of innocent people, omission of crimes or
being dismissed by the appellate or cassation panel; there were some cases
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to be corrected by the appellate and cassation panel but its rate is much
lower than that allowed by the Supreme People's Court. However, there
were still violations of procedural order and proceedings when hearing by
the two-level People’s Courts of Hai Duong province as follows:
In the stage of preparing for first-instance trial: there are still cases that
the Procuracy “owe” the indictment and the record of delivering evidence.
The assignment of duties to the Judge is not shown in writing and the
decision to return the file for additional investigation without legal grounds.
Some people's jurors do not spend enough time studying case files. At the
first-instance trial, many judges were negligent, they have roughly and
generally explained rights and obligations of defendants and proceeding

participants. The questioning at the court panel is still formal and
accusations. The interrogation process mostly put responsibility on the
Judge, while the people's assessor and procurator are rarely shown their
responsibility. There are still unresolved cases, the content of judgment
does not reflect and follow the trial panel progress, the judgment is not
consistent with decision. The delivery, sending and serving of judgments
are still slow.
3.1.2. Evaluating by criteria for prompt and timely trial
Due to many different subjective and objective reasons, the proceedingconducting agencies in Hai Duong province rarely apply the shortened
procedures. According to statistics of the People's Court of Hai Duong
province, from 2011 to 2019, the two-level People's Courts just applied the
shortened procedures for 56/8683 cases, accounting for 0.64%.
In Hai Duong province, the investigation, prosecution and adjudication
under normal procedures have not violated the deadline but still quite slow
and not in time. The trial panels of two-level courts ensure the statutory
time-limit. However, if there are provisions on the time-limit for preparing
trial in detail and more suitable with the nature of each case, Judges work
more urgently, the time for resolving cases can be shorter.
3.1.3. Evaluating by criteria of the court’s judgement
From 2011 to 2019, the People's Courts of Hai Duong province tried
8,683 criminal cases with 16,095 defendants at first-instance level, but there
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was no case to unjustly convict innocent people. The rate of sentences being
cancelled and corrected by appellate and cassation is much lower than that
allowed by the Supreme People's Court. There were 1654/8683 (19%) cases
tried at the court of first instance to be appealed with 2572/16095 (16%)
defendants but only 4/2572, accounting for 0.16% of defendants were
corrected for crimes by the provincial appeals level; 40/2572 defendants,

accounting for 1.56% of defendants were corrected for civil liability,
handling of evidences and court fees; 35/2572 defendants, accounting for
1.36%, were corrected to increase the imprisonment penalty level; 341/2572
defendants, accounting for 13.3% of the reduction of imprisonment; 4/2572
defendants, accounting for 0.16%, were exempt from criminal liability or
penalty; 607/2572 defendants, accounting for 23.6%, were changed from a
term of imprisonment to imprisonment for suspended sentence or noncustodial sentence; 11/2572 defendants, accounting for 0.43%, were
transferred a suspended prison sentence to a term of imprisonment. The
number of first-instance judgments that were canceled by the appellate
level, cassation to investigate and re-trial under the first-instance procedures
was only 32/8683 cases, accounting for 0.37%. By examining two forms of
correcting cases at the court of first-instance with highest proportion
including transfer a term of imprisonment to a suspended prison sentence or
non-custodial sentence (607/2572 defendants) and reducing the prison
sentence (341/2572 defendants), it can be seen that the main reason leading
to the appellate court corrects the first-instance judgment is that the
defendant presented extenuating circumstances of criminal liability at the
appellate level.
3.1.4. Evaluating by criteria for ensuring standard of style and form of
the judgment
Basically, first instance criminal sentences at two-level People's Courts
of Hai Duong province have met requirements of a judgment form, the
judgments are written in the correct form and information, they show fully
and accurately the court’s arguments and conclusion about issues that need
to be solved. From 2011 to 2019, no first instance criminal judgment of the
two-level People's Court of Hai Duong province was canceled or modified
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due to the judgement form. However, there are still first-instance criminal

judgments being experienced by the appeal court due to misspellings,
incorrect arguments, inaccurate data, confusion of name, date of birth of
those who participated in the proceedings.
3.1.5 Evaluating transparency and publicity of the trial process
Transparency in the first-instance trial for criminal cases at two-level
people’s courts of Hai Duong province as follows:
First, Procedural procedures, working schedule, trial schedule, process
of resolving and hearing criminal cases, and identifying evidence when
resolving specific cases were publicly listed at the headquarters by the
People's Courts of Hai Duong province and on the website portal of the
Court. However, there are still limitations of some activities to publicize
criminal proceedings at the two-level People's Courts of Hai Duong
province. For example, in some cases, not timely transferring notices and
procedural documents, even forgetting to send.
Second, along with the public trial at the court office, each year, the twolevel People's Courts of Hai Duong province conduct itinerant trial of
hundreds of criminal cases, demonstrating the publicity and transparency in
trial. From 2011 to 2019, two-level People's Courts of Hai Duong province
conducted itinerant trial a total of 2551 criminal cases. However, the

itinerant trial of criminal cases at the two-level people’s courts also
led to inadequacies affecting the trial quality such as courtroom did
not guarantee solemnity and lack of means for hearing cases.
Third, after 02 years and 06 months of implementing Resolution No.
03/2017/NQ-HDTP dated March 16, 2017 of the Judicial Council of the
Supreme People's Court on publicizing judgment and decision that took
effect, from 1 July 2017 to 31 December 2019, the People's Court of Hai
Duong province publicly announced 953 judgments and decisions took
effect on the Court’s website, the people’s court of 12 districts and cities of
Hai Duong province announced a total of 6854 judgments and decisions.

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3.2. Evaluating factors affecting the quality of first-instance trial for
criminal cases at the two-level people’s courts of Hai Duong
3.2.1. Evaluating the provisions of the law relating to first-instance
trial for criminal cases
The 2015 Criminal Code had progress in building components of crime
and concretizing penalty framework so to apply consistently and accurately
the law of the two-level people’s court in Hai Duong and reducing missing
crime, wrong conviction and penalties so that improving the quality of firstinstance trial for criminal cases.
The 2015 Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) has many new progresses:
there have been many new regulations to ensure the litigation of criminal
court panel such as adding the principle of “guaranteeing litigation in the
trial”, and recognizing the principle of “innocence speculation”. The 2015
CPC added new proceeding participants as well as regulations on rights and
obligations for those that is the denounced, prosecuted person, detainees in
an emergency and supplement rights for these persons. The 2015 CPC has
shown progress in providing that the earliest time for defendant’s agent
participates in the proceedings since the arrested person appears at the
headquarter of the investigating agency, and regulation on extended rights
of the defendant’s agent.
After the 2015 CPC took effect, the lawyers defense the accused and
defendants are more respected and litigation has been focused. However,
the 2015 CPC still has some unclear provisions making difficult for the law
enforcement such as “rights of defense counsels”, “order of inquiring and
arguing at the court” that affecting litigation quality at the court”.
3.2.2. Evaluating the court’s independence
The Constitution recognizes the “relative” independence of the Court
system over the legislative and judicial agencies. In fact, however,

independent principles of the Court sometime have not been absolutely
complied with. For one reason or another, one way or another, there are still
other state power agencies interfering in the trial activity of the Courts and
Judges.

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For the Party's agencies in Hai Duong, the two-level court’s trial is
conducted through meetings and working reports of the Standing
Committee. Here the local Party Committee issues Resolution on the trial
work for the whole year and period rather than interfering and directing
how to heard specific cases.
For other proceeding-conducting agencies: The Court always expresses
its independent opinion over the Investigation Agency and the Procuracy in
evaluating records, evidences, conclusions and indictments.
For the internal relations of the court system, as required by the
independent principle in hearing, the lower Court does not depend on the
direction of the superior Court. In fact, however, the superior Court has
authority to correct and cancel the judgment of the lower People's Court.
Moreover, the provincial People's Court is organizationally managed the
district People's Courts under authorization of the Supreme People's Court,
so the independence among the Courts is only relative. In fact, the lower
Court’s shyness and respect for the superior Court is inevitable.
3.2.3. Evaluating judicial power control in first-instance trial for
criminal cases
Supervising trial activity of the local elected bodies: The supervision of
the People's Council for the trial work in Hai Duong is in accordance with
the law, but due to without specific regulations, supervision efficiency is
not high.

Inspecting trial activity of the People’s Procuracy: the inspection of the
People’s Procuracy is quite close and timely so that the Court may detect
and correct some errors.
3.2.4. Evaluating the local courts’ enforcement capacity
Basically, Judges, officials and civil servants of the two-level People’s
Courts of Hai Duong province have good qualities, competencies and skills
to complete their duties.
In terms of infrastructure and technical facilities
In fact, the state budget allocated to the Courts in Hai Duong province is
limited, especially the budget for construction and repairing headquarters,

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courtroom, and the budget for purchasing equipment for work have not met
requirements of the trial task in the current period.
Chapter 4
REQUIREMENT AND SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF
FIRST-INSTANCE TRIAL FOR CRIMINAL CASES

4.1. Requirement for improving the quality of first-instance trial for
criminal cases
4.1.1. Requirement of judicial reform in Vietnam today
Improving the trial quality in general and first-instance trial for criminal
cases in particular is considered a central task of the judicial reform, it will
directly relate to the decision of the basic objectives that Resolution No. 49NQ/TW has set out: (1) Improving the quality of first-instance trial for
criminal cases so as to build a clean, strong, democratic and strict judicial
system, and protect justice for the people and socialist fatherland of
Vietnam. (2) Improving the quality of first-instance trial for criminal cases
is a breakthrough content, contributing to the implementation of the goal of

improving the efficiency and effectiveness of trial activity.
4.1.2. Requirements for ensuring human rights under the 2013
Constitution
Trial is a central activity of the process of resolving criminal cases, it
demonstrates nature of the national judiciary, so the protection of human
rights is shown most concentrated in the Court's trial activity. The
independent, objective and fair trial by strict and transparent proceedings of
the Court will be an effective tool to protect human rights.
4.1.3 Requirements for preventing crimes and injustice
Trial is a stage of important criminal proceedings to strengthen the
legislation and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the people in the
entire criminal judicial activity. Along with other stages of criminal
proceedings, trial contributes effectively to the fight against crimes in the
whole society. The trial of the right person, right crime, on the one hand,
without missing crimes, on the other hand, preventing injustice in criminal
proceedings.

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4.1.4. Requirements for promoting international cooperation in trial
activity of Vietnam
Along with the process of expanding economic relations, the crossborder crime situation, criminal cases involving foreigners or Vietnamese
who commit crimes abroad tend to increase, and many new types of crimes
such as money laundering crimes, terrorist crimes, high-tech crimes and so
on, causing many difficulties for judicial activities. Domestic crimes also
tend to internationalize, domestic offenders enter into collusion with foreign
offenders. Therefore, Vietnamese courts must trial many criminal cases
with foreign elements and must use mutual legal assistance measures in the
trial process. This requires judges have much more skills in assessing and

analyzing evidence.
4.2. Solutions to improve the quality of first-instance trial for
criminal cases
4.2.1. Continue to complete the provisions of the law on first-instance
trial for criminal cases
Improving the provisions of the criminal law related to constitute a
crime and penalties:
- Improving technically crime constitution to ensure the integrity of of
system, the clarity and accuracy of each crime constitution and must meet 5
basic criteria, namely: (1) must be structurally tight; (2) must be legally
consistent; (3) must be scientifically correct; (4) must be practically
feasible; (5) must be clear, simple and understandable in legal terms.
- Improving and adding some crimes, further describe and differentiation
of criminal responsibility for crimes just have included in the Penal Code,
and eliminating crimes that are no longer relevant.
Improving the provisions of the criminal procedure law on first-instance
trial for criminal cases
(1) Strengthening and ensuring litigation of firs-instance trial.
Accordingly, the 2015 CPC needs to further improve the following
provisions: revise the name of Article 26 of the 2015 CPC as “Principles of
guaranteed litigation”. It is necessary to consider and amend the provisions
of the CPC so that the court does not have to prove crime, for example,
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provisions on (i) The Court’s authority to institute criminal cases; (ii) The
Court’s authority to verify, collect and supplement evidence; (iii) The
Court’s authority to return files to the Procuracy for additional
investigation; (iv) The Court’s trial limit; (v) The role of questioning of the
parties at the court, avoid accruing the responsibility of questioning to the

trial panel.
(2) It is necessary to improve the provisions of the law on ensuring the
defendant's right to defend. Accordingly, it is necessary to have more clear
provisions in order for the accused, defendants can understand their right to
self-defend, ask for defendant’s agent, as well as vulnerable subjects who
need free legal aid or defensed by the State.
4.2.2. Overcoming limitations and inadequacies to ensure the
independence of the Court in first-instance trial for criminal cases
In order to enhance the independence of the trial activity in general and
the first-instance trial for criminal cases in particular, it is necessary to
implement some specific solutions as follows:
First, to ensure that judicial power is clearly assigned.
Second, to ensure that the Court is independent from the administrative
agencies.
Third, to ensure that the independence of district People's Courts from
provincial People's Courts.
Fourth, improving mechanism of reappointment, rotation, transfer,
reward, discipline, salary and working conditions for Judges.
4.2.3. Strengthening measures of supervising judicial power in the
first-instance trial for criminal cases
First, it is necessary to strengthen the role of supervising trial activities
of the People's Councils at all levels. Request the National Assembly and
the Standing Committee of the National Assembly to adjust the provisions
of the law on supervisory right of the district and provincial People's
Councils over agencies exercise judicial powers in locality. Improving
capacity of subjects who perform supervision and consolidating the
advisory apparatus of the People’s Council.

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Second, it is necessary to re-realize the adjudication functions of the
People's Procuracy. Accordingly, the Procuracy should focus on the
function of exercising prosecution rights and removing the function of
supervising judicial activities of the People's Procuracy.
Third, it is necessary to renew the people's supervision methods.
In order to promote the people's supervisory role to the first-instance
trial for criminal cases, there should be some solutions as follows:
+ Building up social supervision law and improving laws related to
judicial activity and judicial agencies.
+ Strengthening the role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and social
unions in supervising judicial activities.
+ Strengthening responsibility of proceeding-conducting persons to
respect and ensure the rights of the Vietnam Fatherland Front in procedural
relations.
+ Strengthening responsibility of press agencies and the mass media in
supervising judicial activities.
+ Strengthening responsibility of judicial agencies in responding to
public opinion.
4.2.4. Strengthening the enforcement capacity of the local People's
Court system
First, on the organizational apparatus, continue to renovate the
organization and operation of the Court as required by the judicial reform.
Second, it is necessary to recruit and train high-quality judges to exercise
judicial powers.
Third, it is necessary to ensure infrastructure and working facilities for
the Court.
4.2.5. Building up a set of tools to assess the quality of first instance
trial for criminal cases
To assess the current state of trial quality in general, the quality of firstinstance trial for criminal cases in order to find out solutions of improving

the trial quality, it is necessary to build up a set of official tools with
specific and practical criteria, and easy to collect data. These tools should
be issued by the competent agency and uniformly implemented in practice.
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