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Cops gauged by clearance rates resort to force
Source: Xinhua |
May 14, 2010, Friday
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ANOTHER "murder victim" turns up alive and another convicted murder is released from prison - it was deja vu for legal experts who want to reform China's justice system to prevent miscarriages of justice.
After 10 years in jail in Henan Province, Zhao Zuohai was acquitted Sunday after his "victim," Zhao Zhenshang, reappeared alive.
With arrest warrants out on three former police officers who allegedly tortured Zhao Zuohai into confessing to a nonexistent crime, legal experts are asking why the "evidence" was never properly scrutinized.
Theoretically, the three branches of China's justice system - the courts, the prosecutors and the police - should have provided the checks and balances to prevent the wrongful conviction. However, in apologizing to Zhao, officials admitted the case was wrongly handled.
On Wednesday, officials launched a investigation into the miscarriage of justice and issued arrest warrants for the policemen, said Song Guoqiang, an official of the People's Procuratorate in Henan's Shangqiu City. Two of the officers have been detained and the third remains at large.
No checks and balances
The Shangqiu Procuratorate had twice refused to prosecute Zhao because of a lack of evidence. However, prosecutors finally yielded to pressure to quickly wrap up the case, fearing they would be criticized for Zhao's prolonged detention.
The rush to judgment and "need" for expediency was compounded when the court failed to question the evidence during a 20-day hearing, which ended in a murder conviction.
All three departments were liable for Zhao's wrongful imprisonment, said Zhang Liyong, chief judge of the Henan Provincial Higher People's Court.
The miscarriage showed that internal and external scrutiny of judicial powers by justice departments, People's Congresses and the public still needed strengthening, said Zhao Bingzhi, head of the Institute of Criminal Law Science of Beijing Normal University.
Zhao Zuohai's case was reminiscent of that of She Xianglin, who was freed from jail in 2005 after 11 years behind bars. She, a former security guard from central Hubei Province, had been convicted of murdering his wife who turned up alive and well 11 years later. He was imprisoned on the basis of a "confession," which She said was extracted through torture and sleep deprivation over 10 days of interrogation.
Zhao Bingzhi said forced confessions were often seen despite improvements in the criminal procedure rules, such as recording of interrogations, and improvements to the informant system.
Reforms in the system should be accelerated, said Professor Deng Siqing of the Institute of Procuratorial Theory of the Supreme People's Procuratorate. He said the investigative and detention branches of the system should be separated, lawyers should be able to attend interrogations and petitions about forced confessions should be heard.
Pressure to resolve criminal cases quickly was the main reason police resorted to torture, said Professor Cui Min, of the Chinese People's Public Security University.
"In some places, clearance rates are regarded as a rigid gauge of staff or department performance and that has fueled the eagerness of the police to solve a case, very often by using violence," Cui said.
After 10 years in jail in Henan Province, Zhao Zuohai was acquitted Sunday after his "victim," Zhao Zhenshang, reappeared alive.
With arrest warrants out on three former police officers who allegedly tortured Zhao Zuohai into confessing to a nonexistent crime, legal experts are asking why the "evidence" was never properly scrutinized.
Theoretically, the three branches of China's justice system - the courts, the prosecutors and the police - should have provided the checks and balances to prevent the wrongful conviction. However, in apologizing to Zhao, officials admitted the case was wrongly handled.
On Wednesday, officials launched a investigation into the miscarriage of justice and issued arrest warrants for the policemen, said Song Guoqiang, an official of the People's Procuratorate in Henan's Shangqiu City. Two of the officers have been detained and the third remains at large.
No checks and balances
The Shangqiu Procuratorate had twice refused to prosecute Zhao because of a lack of evidence. However, prosecutors finally yielded to pressure to quickly wrap up the case, fearing they would be criticized for Zhao's prolonged detention.
The rush to judgment and "need" for expediency was compounded when the court failed to question the evidence during a 20-day hearing, which ended in a murder conviction.
All three departments were liable for Zhao's wrongful imprisonment, said Zhang Liyong, chief judge of the Henan Provincial Higher People's Court.
The miscarriage showed that internal and external scrutiny of judicial powers by justice departments, People's Congresses and the public still needed strengthening, said Zhao Bingzhi, head of the Institute of Criminal Law Science of Beijing Normal University.
Zhao Zuohai's case was reminiscent of that of She Xianglin, who was freed from jail in 2005 after 11 years behind bars. She, a former security guard from central Hubei Province, had been convicted of murdering his wife who turned up alive and well 11 years later. He was imprisoned on the basis of a "confession," which She said was extracted through torture and sleep deprivation over 10 days of interrogation.
Zhao Bingzhi said forced confessions were often seen despite improvements in the criminal procedure rules, such as recording of interrogations, and improvements to the informant system.
Reforms in the system should be accelerated, said Professor Deng Siqing of the Institute of Procuratorial Theory of the Supreme People's Procuratorate. He said the investigative and detention branches of the system should be separated, lawyers should be able to attend interrogations and petitions about forced confessions should be heard.
Pressure to resolve criminal cases quickly was the main reason police resorted to torture, said Professor Cui Min, of the Chinese People's Public Security University.
"In some places, clearance rates are regarded as a rigid gauge of staff or department performance and that has fueled the eagerness of the police to solve a case, very often by using violence," Cui said.
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