Overview

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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dr Yu Mou (SOAS, University of London)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Hart Publishing
Weight:   0.576kg
ISBN:  

9781509913022

ISBN 10:   1509913025
Pages:   280
Publication Date:   02 April 2020
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

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 Stage IV. 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

Reviews

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. -- Professor Jacqueline S Hodgson, University of Warwick This is a wonderfully rich ethnographic study of the criminal process in China. Mou exposes the deep connection between the flaws of the process and its institutional design, including in particular the many pressures on institutional actors within the criminal process. Her work is a compelling indictment of a system structurally set up, as she argues, to produce miscarriages of justice, and a fascinating, timely and important contribution to research on law in action in China. -- Professor Eva Pils, King's College London

Author Information

Yu Mou is Assistant Professor at SOAS, University of London.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions