In the not-so-distant past, the annual reports of the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate received embarrassingly low approval ratings at the National People's Congress.

The discontent came from the sense of insecurity we all had a few years back, feeling that our judiciary was not aggressive enough in its work.

Votes are pending on the current reports. But both can count on better responses this year. After all, each has delivered something impressive.

The Supreme Procuratorate has multiple roles. But thanks mostly to public worries about corruption, its crackdowns on fraudulent officials has won popular endorsement.

Investigating and sending 301 officials at or above the county level to stand trial in one year may not seem sensatinoal, considering the public's allegedly overblown perception of corruption's prevalence. But the procuratorial departments were instrumental in the investigation of almost all major corruption scandals in 2006.

They can expect more support because they heeded public opinion and focused on the most sensitive areas. They dug out officials offering umbrella protection for notorious underworld gangs, uncovered malfeasants behind major industrial accidents, and, most recently, targeted bribe-taking in major construction projects, property transactions and government procurement.

If the procuratorates won respect with a sharper edge against fraudulent public office holders, the Supreme Court did that by displaying a softer side.

No evaluation of the highest court's job in the past year should go without singling out its high-profile preparatory work in taking back the authority to review and approve death sentences.

The Supreme Court's joint decision with the Supreme Procuratorate to open to observers appeal proceedings for all death-sentence cases and to unify procedures and criteria for death sentences carries high hopes for regulating and limiting capital punishment.

Its proposal combining severity and leniency in criminal justice, emphasizing mediation in civil lawsuits, and expanding experiments with a victim compensation system in criminal justice reflect a commitment to minimizing confrontation. This is the court's formula for harmony.

We are concerned about the procuratorates' and courts' own problems corruption, dereliction of duty, low efficiency, and lack of training.

But what impressed us the most in 2006 was the emerging sense of direction.

With that, we can feel confident about improvements.

(China Daily 03/14/2007 page9)