Harsh Justice
Harsh Justice

Author: James Q. Whitman

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2005-04-14

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 0198035314

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Criminal punishment in America is harsh and degrading--more so than anywhere else in the liberal west. Executions and long prison terms are commonplace in America. Countries like France and Germany, by contrast, are systematically mild. European offenders are rarely sent to prison, and when they are, they serve far shorter terms than their American counterparts. Why is America so comparatively harsh? In this novel work of comparative legal history, James Whitman argues that the answer lies in America's triumphant embrace of a non-hierarchical social system and distrust of state power which have contributed to a law of punishment that is more willing to degrade offenders.

China
China

Author: Amnesty International

Publisher:

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13:

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Legal Reform and Administrative Detention Powers in China
Legal Reform and Administrative Detention Powers in China

Author: Sarah Biddulph

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2007-12-20

Total Pages: 51

ISBN-13: 113946809X

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Using a conceptual framework, this 2007 book examines the processes of legal reform in post-socialist countries such as China. Drawing on Bourdieu's concept of the 'field', the increasingly complex and contested processes of legal reform are analysed in relation to police powers. The impact of China's post-1978 legal reforms on police powers is examined through a detailed analysis of three administrative detention powers: detention for education of prostitutes; coercive drug rehabilitation; and re-education through labour. The debate surrounding the abolition in 1996 of detention for investigation (also known as shelter and investigation) is also considered. Despite over 20 years of legal reform, police powers remain poorly defined by law and subject to minimal legal constraint. They continue to be seriously and systematically abused. However, there has been both systematic and occasionally dramatic reform of these powers. This book considers the processes which have made these legal changes possible.

Tradition of the Law and Law of the Tradition
Tradition of the Law and Law of the Tradition

Author: Xin Ren

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 1997-03-25

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 0313370109

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Traditionally, social theorists in the West have structured models of state social control according to the tenet that socialization is accomplished by means of external controls on behavior: undesirable actions are punished and desirable actions result either in material reward or a simple respite from the oppressive attentions of an authoritarian state. In this volume, the author presents the tradition of law in China as an exception to the Western model of social control. The Confucian bureaucracy that has long structured Chinese social life melded almost seamlessly with the Maoist revolutionary agenda to produce a culture in which collectivism and an internalized adherence to social law are, in some respects, congenital features of Chinese social consciousness. Through her investigation of the Maoist concept of revolutionary justice and the tradition of conformist acculturation in China, the author constructs a fascinating counterpoint to traditional Western arguments about social control.

China's Psychiatric Inquisition
China's Psychiatric Inquisition

Author: Robin Munro

Publisher: Wildy, Simmonds & Hill Publishing

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 9781898029854

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This study examines the misuse of forensic psychiatry custody in China since the late 1950s as an adjunct means – alongside the legal authorities’ more frequent use of arrest, trial and imprisonment – of punishing and silencing political dissidents, spiritual nonconformists, whistleblowers and other critics of official corruption or malfeasance. The principal questions addressed in the book are: how common have such practices been in China during the successive main periods in the country’s post-1949 history; how have these repressive practices been theorized and handled under the country’s evolving criminal justice system; and why have the security authorities resorted to this, at first sight, uncharacteristically sophisticated form of state repression? On the basis of extensive archival research into several decades of China’s legal and psychiatric literature, the study concludes that the use of psychiatric custody against dissidents and other similar groups has been more widespread in China than it was in the former Soviet Union. Series Editors: Anthony Dicks and Robin Munro

The Chinese Must Go
The Chinese Must Go

Author: Beth Lew-Williams

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2018-02-26

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 0674976010

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Beth Lew-Williams shows how American immigration policies incited violence against Chinese workers, and how that violence provoked new exclusionary policies. Locating the origins of the modern American "alien" in this violent era, she makes clear that the present resurgence of xenophobia builds mightily upon past fears of the "heathen Chinaman."

Do Exclusionary Rules Ensure a Fair Trial?
Do Exclusionary Rules Ensure a Fair Trial?

Author: Sabine Gless

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-04-17

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 3030125203

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This open access publication discusses exclusionary rules in different criminal justice systems. It is based on the findings of a research project in comparative law with a focus on the question of whether or not a fair trial can be secured through evidence exclusion. Part I explains the legal framework in which exclusionary rules function in six legal systems: Germany, Switzerland, People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Singapore, and the United States. Part II is dedicated to selected issues identified as crucial for the assessment of exclusionary rules. These chapters highlight the delicate balance of interests required in the exclusion of potentially relevant information from a criminal trial and discusses possible approaches to alleviate the legal hurdles involved.

China's Legal Awakening
China's Legal Awakening

Author: Carlos Wing-hung Lo

Publisher: Hong Kong University Press

Published: 1995-07-01

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 9622093809

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After decades of nihilistic rule under Mao Zedong, can legal order be restored in China? How successful is Deng Xiaoping's initiative in developing a socialist legal system? Where is China on its road to the 'rule of law'? This book illustrates - through the analysis of more than two hundred criminal cases selected from Minzhu yu fazhi (Democracy and the Legal System) in the period 1979-89 - that the establishment of a formal criminal justice system and the development of an embryonic socialist theory of law in China reflect a genuine and widespread legal awakening. A rudimentary legal culture has taken hold among Party leaders, cadres, judicial personnel, intellectuals and the general public. Nevertheless, the contradiction between legal order and Party supremacy remains, as demonstrated by the June Fourth incident in Beijing and the ensuing trials of the 1989 dissidents.

China's Legal System
China's Legal System

Author: Pitman Potter

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-01-30

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 0745672167

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China’s struggle for the rule of law is at a critical juncture. As a key element of governance in the PRC today, China’s legal system affects not only domestic affairs but also China’s engagement with the world. But can a credible legal system emerge which protects the rights of citizens and international partners without undermining the power of the Party State? And is the Chinese Communist Party willing to embark on judicial reforms that may jeopardize its very survival? Understanding the PRC legal system is increasingly important as China rises to prominence in the world. In this compelling analysis, noted legal scholar Pitman Potter examines the ideals and practices of China’s legal regime, in light of international standards and local conditions. Against a rich historical backdrop, Potter explains how China’s legal system supports three key policy objectives; namely, political stability, economic prosperity, and social development. In exploring these competing policy goals and the tensions between them, he also raises fundamental questions about government expectations of the role of law in regulating local and international socio-economic and political relationships. This wide-ranging and readable introduction will be an invaluable guide for students and non-specialists interested in China’s ongoing process of legal modernization.