Law Commons^™

He Jiahong, Back From The Dead: Wrongful Convictions And Criminal Justice In China, Stanley B. Lubman

Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies

1In 1987, Teng Xingshan was sentenced to death for raping a woman and dismembering her body; wrongfully convicted, he was executed in 1989 – but in 1992 the “victim” returned home, and Teng was exonerated in 2005. His case is only one among numerous other tragic wrongful convictions discussed in Back From the Dead: Wrongful Convictions and Criminal Justice in China, by Professor He Jiahong (Renmin University Law School, Beijing). This book, the product of ten years of research, is a scholarly analysis of wrongful convictions that demonstrates deep system-wide flaws in China’s criminal justice system.

Western Scholarship On Chinese Law: Past Accomplishments And Present Challenges, Stanley B. Lubman

Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies

Chinese law-making in recent years has been nothing less than remarkable and presents a new challenge for research today. The recent adoption of new codes, the revival of formal legal institutions, including courts and the bar, and the reinvigoration of legal education and research all signal the reappearance of an entire field of study.

Although a foundation for study was laid by some scholars in the 1960's, the field later declined, reflecting the low condition to which the Chinese legal system fell, both before and during the disastrous Cultural Revolution. Once again, however, study of the operation of the Chinese …

Emerging Functions Of Formal Legal Institutions In China's Modernization, Stanley B. Lubman

Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies

In 1977 when China's leaders dedicated themselves to the four modernizations, they consciously decided to reestablish formal legal institutions as part of their ambitious plan of growth. In light of China's legal history since the Communist victory in 1949, this decision is significant. Since 1949 law had borne the heavy imprint of politics; since the late nineteen-fifties, the Chinese leadership had shown little concern for the fate of formal legal institutions; during the Cultural Revolution, the legal system had virtually disappeared. But since 1977, despite fluctuations in economic policy the attitudes of the leadership toward law, repeatedly echoed by lower …

Form And Function In The Chinese Criminal Process, Stanley B. Lubman

Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies

This article considers some of the formidable intellectual problems involved in studying the Chinese criminal process. Much can be learned about another country by studying its legal institutions; a study of sanctioning institutions promises insight into a society's view of order, deviance, individual rights, and the allocation and application of punishment. But how can foreign institutions most perceptively be studied? Only rather recently has analysis of the American criminal process become notably more sophisticated. Our own inexperience coupled with China's alienness and the lack of accurate information threaten to impede perceptive studies of Chinese institutions. But the problem is pressing …