Chinese Courts and Criminal Procedure
Post-2013 Reforms

This volume investigates questions linking institutional changes within the court system and legal environment with developments in criminal procedure law.

Björn Ahl (Edited by)

9781108978316, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 March 2023

299 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.437 kg

Contrary to the general perception of legal regression under Xi Jinping, this volume presents a more nuanced picture: It combines a wide range of analytical perspectives and themes in order to investigate questions that link institutional changes within the court system and legal environment with developments in criminal procedure law. The first part of the book investigates topics that contextualise institutional and procedural aspects of the law with a focus on various actors in the judiciary and other state and party organs. The second part of the book shifts the perspective to three controversial themes of criminal procedure reform: pre-trial custody review, live witness testimony in court and criminal reconciliation. By shedding light on performance evaluation of judges and interactions of courts and media the final part of the book introduces two sets of contextual factors relevant to the adjudication of criminal cases.

Post-2013 Reforms of the Chinese courts and criminal procedure: an introduction Björn Ahl
1. The meandering path of judicial reform with Chinese characteristics Xiaohong Yu
2. Dimensions and contradictions of judicial reforms in China Yulin Fu
3. How the Supreme People's Court drafts criminal procedure judicial interpretations Susan Finder
4. Judicial (dis-)empowerment and centralisation efforts: institutional impacts of China's new supervision commissions Ye Meng
5. A new model of habeas corpus in China? Procuratorial necessity examination of pre-trial custody Alexandra Kaiser
6. Live witness testimony in the Chinese criminal courts Zhiyuan Guo
7. Blood money and negotiated justice in China Kwai Hang Ng and Xin He
8. Performance evaluation in the context of criminal justice reform: a critical analysis Michelle Miao
9. From populism to professionalism: the media and criminal justice in China Daniel Sprick.

Subject Areas: Criminal law & procedure [LNF], International criminal law [LBBZ], International law [LB], Law [L], Crime & criminology [JKV]