Advanced Law but Undeveloped Criminal Justice: Wrongful Conviction and State Compensation in China

• In Event: Oppressive Criminal Justice Practices

Abstract

Research on wrongful conviction has proliferated over the world; however, there is little attention paid to this topic in China. By reviewing hundreds of cases of wrongful convictions in last twenty years, the paper points out that torture and pretrial detention are the main reasons for wrongful conviction in China. With a conception of presumption of guilt, police officers play a role in forcing the innocent to plea guilty by forged details and fake evidence. Although there is no obviously rational evidence to demonstrate the suspects are guilty, judges are inclined to convict the innocent and usually reject to acquit the innocent after trial time by time. The one-line industry of cooperation deteriorates the miscarriage of justice once the conviction is issued, because of the responsibility of court and procuratorate respectively. The State Compensation Law promulgated in 1994 stipulated a clear and high standard of compensation, yet the acquittals are hard to apply successfully. The author criticizes pretrial detention in China and recommends releasing the suspects who might be acquitted finally. Recent policy in Supreme Court indicate a good trend to acquit and compensate the innocent; however, wrongful conviction is still easy to emerge if pretrial detention persists.

Author

• Moulin Xiong, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics