CASE STUDY ON THE CAUSES OF WRONGFUL CONVICTION IN CHINESE CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Abstract

In recent years, with the disclosure of wrongful convictions in the media, the topic has become a focus of attention in China. Those wrongful convictions led people to ask: What is going wrong in Chinese criminal justice system? Since late 1995, the author of this article led a group of researchers and embarked upon an empirical study of wrongful convictions in China. According to our study, false confessions extracted with torture are a major evidential cause, or direct cause, for wrongful convictions in China. However, there are indirect causes behind the problem of torture in the criminal proceedings. They are the nominal checks among the police, the procuratorate and the court; the bowing to public opinions in contradiction to legal principles; the unlawfully extended custody with tunnel vision; the nominalization of courtroom trials; and the reducing of punishment in a case of doubt. These causes of wrongful convictions reflect the institutional flaws, outdated mentalities, and improper practices in Chinese criminal proceedings.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Thomson Reuters