Abstract: Up to now, extorting confessions by torture still exists seriously in criminal investigation practice, which has led to many adverse consequences. This paper will discuss the reasons for extorting confessions by torture and put forward some countermeasures, hoping to be beneficial to investigation. Keywords: extorting confessions by torture; Reason; The countermeasure of extorting a confession by torture refers to the act of judicial staff using corporal punishment or disguised corporal punishment to extort a confession. This behavior seriously violated the criminal suspect's personal rights and democratic rights. In the practice of investigation, extorting confessions by torture is repeatedly prohibited; Cases of serious injury and death have occurred from time to time. Where is the root of extorting a confession by torture? In order to prohibit extorting confessions by torture, what countermeasures should be taken in legislation and practice? Specifically, the reasons for extorting confessions by torture are as follows: First, the ideological influence of 1 and "presumption of guilt". In the process of handling cases, many investigators are still influenced by the feudal idea of "presumption of guilt" and fall into the influence that "defendants and criminal suspects" are bad people and guilty people. 2, the investigator's own problems. In judicial practice, some investigators are easy to make subjective assumptions because of their unclear understanding of some cases. When investigators can't collect other evidence to find out the facts of the case, they often rely on personal knowledge, experience and judgment to ask the suspect to make a confession that conforms to their own judgment. When he can't get what he wants, he will think that the suspect is "dishonest" and is prone to different degrees of involuntary torture. 3. Various misunderstandings in judicial practice. There are three aspects: first, "the necessity of extorting a confession by torture", which holds that real criminals know the consequences of their confession, so they cannot be forced to confess their crimes without certain coercive power; Second, the theory of "the benefits of extorting a confession by torture" holds that although extorting a confession by torture will have certain negative consequences, it will help to force criminals to confess their crimes, which is conducive to detection, convenient use, saving expenses, and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages; The third is "confession theory", which holds that under the condition that the existing investigation technology in China is relatively backward at present, it will be difficult to carry out criminal investigation without the confession of criminal suspects. Second, due to institutional reasons, China has not recognized the criminal suspect's right to silence. In terms of criminal policy, China has long pursued "leniency in confession and strictness in resistance", and the Criminal Procedure Law clearly stipulates that criminal suspects and defendants have the obligation to truthfully state. This legal obligation not only makes the suspect have no right to remain silent when facing the accusation, but also gives the investigator the power to force the suspect to confess. Because the power to judge whether it is "true" lies with the investigator, once the investigator thinks that the suspect's answer is not in line with his prediction, it is inevitable to extort a confession by torture. Third, other reasons 1, lack of funds for handling cases. At present, under the condition of underdeveloped economy and high incidence of crimes in China, the funds for handling cases by public security and judicial organs in various places are generally insufficient, and the cost and consumption of extorting confessions by torture are relatively small. In this case, it is not surprising that the investigation organs try their best to extract confessions from criminal suspects. 2. The level of investigation technology is relatively low. With the improvement of criminal organization, technology and secrecy, criminal investigation becomes more and more difficult. However, the quality, technical equipment, organizational management and technical level of criminal investigators in China are difficult to adapt to the rapid improvement of crime level. At this time, investigators are often forced to use torture to extract confessions to break through difficult cases. 3. Lack of proper professional ethics. Few investigators have low professional ethics. In the process of handling cases, they often need to create unjust, false and wrong cases for their own interests, and extorting confessions by torture is one of the important means. 4. Lack of punishment for extorting confessions by torture. Although China's criminal law has stipulated that extorting a confession by torture is a crime, in judicial practice, the act of extorting a confession by torture is rarely investigated, and even if it is investigated, it is often a trivial matter. Above, we have analyzed the causes and social harm caused by extorting confessions by torture. In view of this situation, we can formulate corresponding countermeasures on the basis of referring to the relevant foreign legislation and judicial experience and combining with China's actual national conditions: first, improve the overall quality of investigators 1, and strengthen the professional quality and professional ethics education of investigators; Investigators are the enforcers and defenders of the law, and good professional quality is the basic ability and requirement for investigators to enforce and maintain the law; Good professional ethics is a necessary condition for investigators to enforce the law fairly. Strengthening the professional quality and ethics education of investigators can effectively prevent and limit the phenomenon of extorting confessions by torture. 2 strictly control the entrance of the judicial team, strictly implement the professional ethics and business assessment system, and adhere to the principle of quality first and quantity second. In China, for a long time, the requirements for investigators mainly depend on political conditions. Left-leaning thought holds that the judiciary is a tool of dictatorship and must be exercised by politically reliable people. In fact, investigators have high requirements for political quality and professional quality. 3. Investigators should eliminate misunderstandings about the role of extorting confessions by torture in investigation practice. It is necessary for investigators to realize that extorting a confession by torture is not the best way for criminals to truthfully confess their crimes from the perspective of finding out the truth of the case. In most cases, extorting confessions by torture will only arouse the rebellious psychology of criminal suspects, thus refusing to tell the truth. Second, strengthen the construction of relevant legal systems 1, and earnestly implement the principle of presumption of innocence. Article 12 of China's Criminal Procedure Law 1996 expresses the basic meaning of presumption of innocence, but this concept is not firmly established in the minds of investigators, which opens the door for the prevalence of presumption of guilt in reality, thus leaving hidden dangers for the long-term existence of extorting confessions by torture. Therefore, we must clearly affirm the principle of presumption of innocence in legislation and truly implement the requirements of the principle of presumption of innocence in practice in order to educate the majority of investigators. Only in this way can the ideological basis of extorting a confession by torture be finally eliminated. 2. Give the suspect the right to silence. "Fighting power with power" is one of the important ways to stop extorting confessions by torture. There are two ways to practice the right to silence in the world: in the positive mode, such as Britain and the United States, investigators must clearly inform the parties of the right to silence; In the negative mode, the law stipulates that the parties have the right to silence, but the investigators have no obligation to inform. It is still difficult to establish a positive right to silence system in China. However, China has signed the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and has ratified and promised to implement its relevant provisions, including the right to silence, in our legislation and practice. It is only a matter of time before the right to silence is implemented in China. China should establish a complete and operable rule of the right to silence, so as to ensure that every citizen can effectively claim this right in the face of interrogation by state officials; At the same time, in order to minimize the possible negative impact of the rule of the right to silence, we should also establish a litigation mechanism to encourage confessions. 3. Establish and implement the exclusionary rule of illegal verbal evidence. The establishment of the exclusionary rule of illegal verbal evidence will make it impossible for extortionists to profit from extorting confessions by torture, thus forcing them to give up their intention of extorting confessions by torture. According to the judicial interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on the implementation of the Criminal Procedure Law, witness testimony, victim's statement and defendant's confession obtained by extorting a confession by torture or by threats, enticements, deception and other illegal means cannot be used as the basis for finalizing the case. Third, increase the judicial input in criminal proceedings 1, and further provide investigators with the material conditions and advanced technical equipment needed to identify crimes. This includes providing sufficient funds for handling cases, fast means of transportation and communication and moderately high living conditions. 2. Improve the technical content of criminal investigation. The application of science and technology will greatly improve the ability of investigators to obtain evidence, thus changing the situation of over-reliance on confession to some extent. Fourth, strengthen the external supervision of extorting confessions by torture. Poor external supervision is also an important reason for the prevalence of extorting confessions by torture in our investigation practice. Therefore, it is necessary to establish and improve the investigation and supervision systems such as NPC supervision, Party discipline supervision and procuratorial supervision, and put an end to extorting confessions by torture. Here, it is especially necessary to strengthen the supervision of procuratorial organs on investigation activities. China's criminal procedure law clearly stipulates that procuratorial organs have the right to supervise the investigation activities of public security organs. However, due to the lack of supervision channels, there are only two types: examination, arrest and prosecution. Many illegal acts in investigation activities, such as extorting confessions by torture, are often unknown to procuratorial organs. Therefore, it is suggested that when the criminal procedure law is revised in the future, the procuratorial organs should increase the means of supervision over investigation activities, such as the right to send personnel to participate in the investigation, the right to send personnel to be present when interrogating criminal suspects, and the right to punish investigators who violate the law and discipline. In addition, the people's procuratorate informed the person in charge of the investigation organ to appoint case handlers to undertake all cases in which interrogators made allegations of extorting confessions by torture. Five, strengthen the legal responsibility of investigators who extort confessions by torture. Therefore, it is necessary for China's criminal law and criminal procedure law to supplement and establish the following systems: 1. Cases accused of extorting confessions by torture should be tried quickly and strictly to form a deterrent force; 2. If the criminal suspect is accused of extorting a confession by torture, we can consider learning from the western inverted burden of proof system. 3. Implement the administrative responsibility of extorting confessions by torture. 4. Strictly implement the compensation system for extorting confessions by torture.