[1] It defines how trials are to be conducted, what rights suspects of crimes have to defend themselves, the role and scope of the activities of defense lawyers, and the entire process of the administration of justice through the courts in China.
[1] The statute has been criticized as offering inadequate protections for those suspected of crimes by the Ministry of Public Security.
[2] Both these measures would prevent the torture and other abuse in custody widely employed to gain confessions.
[3] The statute is also often not enforced, and ignoring it rarely results in penalties administered by the procuratorate or other supervisory organs.
There are multiple documented cases of the procuratorate and public security bureau ignoring it and instead taking direction from the political-legal committees at various levels.