Miscarriage of Justice and Malpractice in Criminal Investigations in China

In 2005, in response to growing concern about the exposure of cases of wrongful conviction in China, the Institute of Evidence in the Law School of Renmin University embarked upon an “Empirical Study of Wrongful Convictions” that collected over 100 cases of wrongful conviction exposed by the media, analyzed representative cases and survey data, and held panel discussions to review research. It found that wrongful convictions are generally the result of several interconnected factors, mainly in the investigation stage of criminal proceedings. These factors include the “from confession to evidence” model of criminal investigation, the setting of inappropriately tight deadlines for solving criminal cases, the prejudicial collection of evidence, the misinterpretation of scientific evidence, and the continued use of torture to extract confessions. Acknowledging and avoiding such practices is a crucial step toward preventing wrongful convictions in China.