Chinese Courts and Criminal Procedure

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.

Björn Ahl is Professor and Chair of Chinese Legal Culture at the University of Cologne and President of the European China Law Studies Association. His research focuses on Chinese constitutional development, in particular judicial reforms, and Chinese practice of public international law.