ABSTRACT
After 30 years of reform, China’s criminal justice system remains signifi cantly defective and notorious for its lack of procedural protection of rights. Commentators are particularly harsh on China’s record, highlighting torture during police interrogation, unlawful detention, lack of effective criminal defence, lack of judicial independence, wide use of the death penalty, corruption and many other forms of abuse. While largely agreeing with the criticisms, this chapter explores an often-neglected dimension of the criminal justice system – the institutionalization of criminal courts in China in the past 30 years. This chapter contextualizes criminal trial reform in China’s socioeconomic, legal and political conditions and assesses China’s criminal court in the context of its own historical development.
