| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The 2011-12 revision of China's Criminal Procedure Law marked the first changes to the country's "mini-constitution" in 15 years, and the first time that proposed revisions were presented for public consultation. During the consultation period, lawyers, journalists and members of China's online communities criticized the draft's inadequacies, particularly measures that would allow investigators to "disappear" certain suspects. The debate over "secret arrest" revealed an emerging public discourse about justice issues, featuring an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the relationship between law and government accountability. Concern over police abuses is reorienting public opinion toward a justice discourse rooted in rights-protective procedures and institutions, that departs significantly from the rationales for criminal procedure reform articulated by China's politicolegal authorities. So long as those authorities treat legislative reform as a "contest" between institutional stakeholders and fail to engage with the public discourse, mistrust of public authority and demands for justice are likely to grow.
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