Del 0 - Studies in International and Comparative Criminal Law

Construction of Guilt in China

An Empirical Account of Routine Chinese Injustice

Inbunden, Engelska, 2020

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Drawing on insights from the author’s own empirical data obtained from systematic observation of the daily routines within Chinese criminal justice institutions, this ground-breaking book examines the functional deficiency of the criminal justice system in preventing innocent individuals from being wrongly accused and convicted. Set within a broad socio-legal context, it outlines the strategic interrelationships between key legal actors, the deep-seated legal culture embedded in practice, the deficiency of integrity of the system and the structural injustices that follow. The author traces criminal case files in the criminal process – how they are constructed, scrutinised and used to dispose of cases and convict defendants in lieu of witnesses’ oral testimony. This book illustrates that the Chinese criminal justice system as a state apparatus of social control has been framed through performance indicators, bureaucratic management and the central value of collectivism in such a way as to maintain the stability of the authoritarian power.The Construction of Guilt in China will appeal to academics, researchers, policy advisers and practitioners working in the areas of criminal law, comparative criminal justice, criminology and Chinese studies.Winner of the 2020 SLS Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2020-04-02
Mått240 x 164 x 22 mm
Vikt580 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieStudies in International and Comparative Criminal Law
Antal sidor280
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN9781509913022

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1. Introduction I. Criminal Injustice in China II. Truth as Objectivity, Constructions and Rhetoric III. Bureaucracy, Ideology and Performance Indicators in Chinese Criminal Justice 2. Researching the Chinese Criminal Justice System I. Outline of Fieldwork II. The Social Makeup of the Suspects 3. The Construction of the Police Cases I. The Context: The Chinese Police and their Role in the Criminal Justice System II. The Official Version of Truth III. Aligning Confession Evidence with the Official Version of the Truth IV. Interviewing Witnesses V. Crime Scene Identification VI. The Defence Predicament in the Investigative Phase VII. Conclusion 4. Reviewing the Police Case I. The Soviet Legacy and the Intricacy of the Supervisory Power of the Procuratorate II. The Role of the Prosecutor III. Overseeing the Police Case IV. Conclusion 5. Pre-trial Decisions Concerning Prosecution I. The Discretionary Power Not to Prosecute II. Decisions on the Modes of Trial III. Constructing the Defence Case at the Pre-trial Prosecution Review StageIV. Conclusion 6. Trials without Witnesses I. Hollowed Criminal Trials and Criminal Case Dossiers II. The Judge–Prosecutor Relationship III. Trial without Witnesses IV. Managerialism and Abbreviated Trials V. The Full Adjudication: Trial without Witnesses VI. Conclusion 7. Concluding Remarks

This path-breaking empirical account of Chinese criminal justice takes the reader inside the offices of the public prosecutor to understand the ways in which criminal cases are constructed against suspects – first by the police, reinforced by the prosecutor and endorsed by the judiciary. Rules and procedures set out a legal rhetoric of independent prosecutorial oversight, but in practice, prosecutors are required to confirm police accounts and are rewarded for high conviction rates. Underpinned by extensive fieldwork and presented thoughtfully for the non-Chinese law expert, this is an important piece of scholarship within the field of comparative criminal law and justice.