As an important component of the operation mechanism of criminal trial organization, the decision-making rule refers to how can the trial organization composed by plural members render a decision, if there are different opinions among the members. From a worldwide view, there exist different decision-making rules in different judicial systems, including the unanimity rule, the strict majority rule, the simple majority rule, and the minority being subordinate to majority rule, etc. Many countries have adopted different decision-making rules and established different decision-making systems according to different member number requirements of trial organizations, different items being adjudicated or judged, different trial instance systems, and so on. The decision-making system not only reflects the interior nature of judicial power, but also aims to realize the multiple values of the judicial system. Due to the influence of democratic centralism, which suggests that the majority’s opinion has precedence over the minority’s , the criminal trial organization of China has for a long time adopted the simple majority rule as its decision-making rule. This simple majority voting rule has ever played a positive role in the specific litigation cultural tradition and social environment of China. However, with the social development and the change of litigation ideology, this decision-making rule of simple majority could not effectively realize the multiple values of the criminal procedure system. Meanwhile, it has also many systematic or non-systematic deficiencies. Consequently, it is necessary to make comparative studies on the decision-making rule of trial organization and hereupon reflect and reconstruct Chinese decision-making rule in criminal litigations. On the whole, in order to establish a diverse decision-making rule in China, we should take the values of judicial justice and efficiency into account, balance many considerations, such as different member number requirements of trial organizations, different items being adjudicated or judged, different trial instance systems, etc., and make the overall reform. |