QUEENS DISTRICT ATTORNEY RICHARD A. BROWN WELCOMES TOP LEGAL EXPERT FROM PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today welcomed to the Queens County District Attorney’s office noted legal scholar Zongzhi Long, a Professor of Law at Sichuan University in the City of Chengdu, Sichuan Province in the People’s Republic of China.
District Attorney Brown said, "The People’s Republic of China is undergoing major changes in the development of its legal system. We are proud of the way prosecutors, police and the courts cooperate here in Queens County to ensure that we meet our responsibility to guarantee equal justice under law. I was pleased to be able to offer Professor Long some of my insights as a former appellate judge and as a prosecutor as well as a closer look at the operations of a District Attorney’s office and local courts. We take very seriously our duty to safeguard an individual’s rights to due process and a fair trial and are bound by the rule of law."
Professor Long said, "I am most grateful for this opportunity to see for myself how America’s criminal justice system operates. I am visiting American courts, prosecutorial offices, police departments and law firms to talk with my American counterparts and gain insights which I hope to include in our pending reforms."
Professor Long, 47, the director of Sichuan University’s Institute of Legal Research which specializes in criminal prosecution, is on a month-long tour of the United States to study the American legal system. The purpose of his visit to Queens County and the District Attorney’s office was to gain firsthand an understanding of how the District Attorney, the police and courts work together within the criminal justice system.
Professor Long was escorted by Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Michael J. Mansfield and Deputy Chief Lawrence J. Festa of the District Attorney’s Detective Squad and observed the operation of various steps in the local criminal justice system, including central booking, the District Attorney’s Intake Bureau, arraignments and a criminal trial.
Professor Long also teaches part-time at China’s National College of Prosecutors and lectures throughout China to professors and law students on the theory of the prosecutorial function. He has been assisting with the organization of China’s national prosecutorial system. Professor Long is currently assisting with the design and drafting of the report of the Prosecutor-General of China's Supreme Procuratorate submitted last March to the National People's Congress.
Professor Long also will be visiting numerous legal system entities during his stay in the United States including Harvard Law School, the Chicago Police Department and California’ s federal courts. He resides in Chengdu where he will return next month.