City's prosecutors on the case with digital platform
Establishing a digital and smart case-charging platform on which prosecutors in different districts of Shanghai can share information has been set as priority, according to the Shanghai People's Procuratorate.
Digital platform for sending legal documents in Hongkou District
On-case parties can now receive their legal documents sent by Hongkou District's prosecutors on an official WeChat account, Hongkou Jiancha.
After following the WeChat account, clients, suspects as well as their families can use their ID number, phone number and verification code sent to their phone to log onto the platform and view their documents.
"If there is no document for you, when you enter the personal information, the platform will pop up a notification to inform you," said Wang Xiaoyang, a prosecutor in Hongkou District.
"The platform is convenient for both clients and prosecutors, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic."
The platform is a part of the whole digital system of prosecutors' working citywide, according to the prosecutors.
"After the platform has reached an ideal result, we plan to promote it to all the procuratorates in Shanghai," said Ren Yiqin, the prosecutors who is in charge of the platform.
There is a professional technology team in Hongkou procuratorate, consisted of young prosecutors and technical specialists, to develop and upgrade digital platforms for the improvement and simplification of the judicial processes relating to prosecutors.
The team has also released a "smart ruler" on the length of sentences via a WeChat mini program since the end of 2020.
The program adopts advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data.
When users choose the crime type and vital information of the crime, they can then enter a page showing the sentencing term with bar chart and graphic about sentencing in recent years.
In addition, the different situations which could lead to different sentencing results also show in the page.
"After the mini program is introduced to the public, it will become a convenient 'practical tool' for society to carry out supervision," said Chen Weimin, deputy chief prosecutor of the Hongkou District People's Procuratorate.
"A large number of guiding cases, legal interpretations and sentencing analysis in the program can guide and warn the public to learn about the law and abide by the law. At the same time, people can supervise our procuratorial work through it."
Also, a smart screen with real-time case information and statistics has been launched and used by Hongkou prosecutors for more than two years.
The Hongkou District prosecutors use the digital platform.
Cloud platform to supervise criminals not in custody
Prosecutors in Minhang District have developed Shanghai's first smart platform to manage those who committed a crime but are not in custody.
The new cloud platform includes five modules: personnel information, daily management, alert management, device management and statistical analysis.
Among them, the daily management function, as the core and most important part, is loaded with five small functions, location supervision, target located, outgoing supervision, roll call management and other functions.
Prosecutors can know the real-time location of their supervision subjects at any time, any where via the platform.
With the platform launched in May last year, a total of 294 people are under supervision.
The platform for now is mainly used for offenders who committed minor crimes, on which first-time and casual offenders accounted for more than 98 percent, while the proportion of voluntary confession reached 100 percent.
The platform is a simplified measure for prosecutors to monitor and supervise not-in-custody criminal suspects online instead of in person, especially for those one who live in other regions, according to Cao Hua, deputy chief prosecutor in Minhang District.
A Minhang prosecutor introduces the use of the cloud smart platform to trace a person not in custody.
Digital platform for information sharing
Prosecutors in Fengxian District have made more plans for their shift to digital this year, while they finished the digital transformation of river management last year.
This year, they are planning to establish a digital platform on which justice officers, lawyers and clients can share criminal cases, files and judicial information. It will also be a new communication method for them.
After it is put into operation, lawyers can view the detailed information of their ongoing cases.
It enables the parties to get posted on the progress of their cases, and if their lawyer is doing a good job.
Last year, Fengxian prosecutors used a digital app to help deal with river water pollution in the district.
They created a new river management mode under which a river chief and a prosecutor jointly take responsibility for improving water quality and riverside reformation. They can view and share information of the riverway's location and situation through the app.
There are a total of 4,041 rivers in Fengxian District, accounting for 8.4 percent of the total number of riverways in Shanghai.
Last year, the district's prosecutors charged 71 public interest cases involving water pollution in riverways, and 37 supervision suggestions have been released.
Fengxian prosecutors measure the length of a stone bridge.
