中国司法改革始终坚持从国情出发，既博采众长、又不照抄照搬，既与时俱进、又不盲目冒进；坚持群众路线，充分体现人民的意愿，着眼于解决民众不满意的问题，自觉接受人民的监督和检验，真正做到改革为了人民、依靠人民、惠及人民；坚持依法推进，以宪法和法律规定为依据，凡是与现行法律相冲突的，应在修改法律后实施；坚持统筹协调、总体规划、循序渐进、分步推进。

　　早在20世纪80年代，中国就开始了以强化庭审功能、扩大审判公开、加强律师辩护、建设职业化法官和检察官队伍等为重点内容的审判方式改革和司法职业化改革。

China carries out judicial reform based on its national conditions. It draws on the sound practices of other countries but does not blindly copy them; it keeps pace with the times but does not advance rashly and blindly. It sticks to the line of relying on the people, strives to meet their expectations, tackles problems of particular concern to the people, and subjects itself to their supervision and examination, so as to ensure the reform is for the people, relies on the people and benefits the people. It pushes forward the reform in accordance with the law, abiding by the Constitution and other laws and regulations, while those measures that contravene the laws in force should only be implemented after the laws are revised. It adheres to the principle of overall planning and coordination, comprehensive designing, and proceeding in an orderly and gradual way.

As early as in the 1980s, China started reforms in court trials and ensuring professionalism in judicature, focusing on enhancing the function of court trials, expanding the openness of trials, improving attorney defense functions, and training professional judges and procurators.

　　从2004年开始，中国启动了统一规划部署和组织实施的大规模司法改革，从民众反映强烈的突出问题和影响司法公正的关键环节入手，按照公正司法和严格执法的要求，从司法规律和特点出发，完善司法机关的机构设置、职权划分和管理制度，健全权责明确、相互配合、相互制约、高效运行的司法体制。中国司法改革走向整体统筹、有序推进的阶段。

　　从2008年开始，中国启动了新一轮司法改革，司法改革进入重点深化、系统推进的新阶段。改革从民众司法需求出发，以维护人民共同利益为根本，以促进社会和谐为主线，以加强权力监督制约为重点，抓住影响司法公正、制约司法能力的关键环节，解决体制性、机制性、保障性障碍，从优化司法职权配置、落实宽严相济刑事政策、加强司法队伍建设、加强司法经费保障等四个方面提出具体改革任务。目前，本轮司法改革的任务已基本完成，并体现在修订完善的相关法律中。随着中国经济社会的不断进步与发展，中国司法改革也将进一步深入推进。    

In 2004, China launched large-scale judicial reforms based on overall planning, deployment and implementation. Starting with issues that caused complaints from the public and the key links that hamper judicial justice, according to the demands of promoting judicial impartiality and strict enforcement of the law, and proceeding from the regular pattern and characteristics of judicial practice, China improved the structure of its judicial organs, division of judicial functions and system of judicial management, to establish a judicial system featuring clearly defined power and responsibilities, mutual collaboration and restraint, and highly efficient operation. Thereby, China's judicial reform entered a phase of overall planning and advancing in an orderly way.

Since 2008, China has initiated a new round of judicial reform, and entered a stage of deepening in key areas and overall advancement. The reform proceeds from the demands of the public for justice, with safeguarding the people's common interests as its fundamental task, promoting social harmony as the main principle and strengthening supervision and restraint of power as priority. China aims to tackle problems in the key links that hamper judicial justice and restrain judicial capability, remove existing barriers in the institutional setup and operational mechanism as well as provision of legal guarantee, and put forward the specific tasks for judicial reform in four aspects - optimizing the allocation of judicial functions and power, implementing the policy of balancing leniency and severity, building up the ranks of judicial workers, and ensuring judicial funding. Currently, the tasks of this round of judicial reform have been basically completed, as relevant laws have been amended and improved. As China is making continuous progress in economic and social development, its judicial reform is bound to advance further.