Chinese Criminal Trials

This book provides a unique empirical study of criminal trials in China.  Western observers such as the media, politicians and the legal scholars alike, have rarely had the exposure to the vast majority of the ordinary criminal trials in China.

A number of legal reforms have been implemented in Chinese criminal courts in recent years, but there has been little research on whether these reforms have been effective. This book fills that gap, by unveiling the day-to-day reality of  criminal cases tried by the lowest level courts in China.  The data used in this study include hundreds of criminal trial observations, complete criminal case dossiers, and a comprehensive questionnaire survey of criminal justice practitioners from one large province located in China’s Southeast coast.  These data were collected over a two-year period, with a generous research grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, by scholars already working in the Chinese legal system.  

The work opens with a historical framework of the Chinese criminal justice system, both Western and Chinese interpretations, and an overview of the current state of the system. It will provide unique analysis of how criminal trials are being carried out in China, with a useful context for scholars with varying levels of familiarity with the current system. The research framework for gathering data discussed in this book will also provide a useful basis for studying the criminal justice system in other regions. ​

From the book reviews:

“He’s study provides a comprehensive examination of the system with both historical length and empirical breadth. … it is one of the few social science inquiries on Chinese criminal justice that combines a survey of law practitioners with content analyses of case files and trial observations. The original data reported in the book are worth the attention of both students of Chinese law and observers of China’s troubled criminal justice system and its rapidly changing legal profession.” (Sida Liu, Crime Law and Social Change, Vol. 62, 2014)

What sets this book apart are the focus on lower-level criminal trial courts, where most criminal law business is done in all legal cultures, and excellent placement of the data in historical context.
--Steve Russell, Asian Journal of Criminology (10.1007/s11417-014-9186-6)

Ni He’s book makes a significant contribution to the larger project of rule of law in China. It is a carefully focused, elegantly versed, historically rooted, and reasonably compact monograph on criminal trials in China.
--Liquin Cao, Journal of Contemporary Asia (10.1080/00472336.2014.913432)

Dr. Ni He is Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University (Boston, MA). He taught at the University of Texas-San Antonio (1998-2003) prior to joining Northeastern University. He received his law degree (LL.B.) from Xiamen University (PR China) in 1988 and his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska-Omaha (USA) in 1997. Dr. He's primary teaching and research interests include comparative criminology/criminal justice, policing and quantitative methodology. He has participated in several international and national research projects as a research analyst. He directed (with Dr. Ineke Haen Marshall) the U.S. portion of the 30-nation International Self-report Delinquency Study (ISRD-2, 2006-2008), funded by the National Institute of Justice. He is currently working (with Drs. Jack McDevitt and Lanying Li) on a joint international research grant (with Xiamen University, PR China), awarded by the MacArthur Foundation (2009-2011), to study legal representation in lower level Chinese criminal courts. He was an invited discussant for the "Seminar on Empirical Approaches to Criminal Procedure Reforms in China" (Oct. 5-7, 2008) and a guest lecturer for the "Criminal Justice and Empirical Theory: An Applied Workshop for Junior Scholars from China" (May 3-11), both hosted by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Dr. He's scholarship can be found in a variety of refereed journals. He has written more than 30 articles, book chapters, book reviews and grant reports. He is the author for Reinventing the Wheel: Marx, Durkheim and Comparative Criminology (1999) and Policing in Finland (2006).