China’s New Court Reform Program（Experts）

• Author: Jerome A. Cohen

On March 25, China’s Supreme People’s Court ("SPC") released its Third Five-Year Reform Program for the People’s Courts. Its predecessor was issued in late 2005. Its text is dense, largely abstract and suffused with exhortations to the judges. Although not nearly as detailed in its recommendations as the Second Program, it does offer some specific proposals as well as a comprehensive list of problems requiring attention. Most important, it provides further confirmation of the Communist Party’s recent renewal of the "mass line" in political-legal affairs after a decade of judicial emphasis on professionalism that occasionally pushed the envelope of Party tolerance.

The Second Program had proposed specific, significant steps toward judicial autonomy, not only for the courts as an institution but also for individual judges. The Third Program does not reveal the fate of those proposals, merely listing some of them on the continuing agenda. Although it does endorse protecting the courts from "illegal interference", it does not indicate what conduct would be "illegal'. Certainly it does make clear that leadership of the Party committee, participation of the procuracy in the court adjudication committee and supervision by the procuracy, the local people’s congress, other notables, the media and public opinion are all deemed essential to successful judicial decision-making.

Some of the Third Program’s specific proposals are important. Criminal sentencing has long been a concern, but the new Program suggests the possibility of a special sentencing procedure so that defense lawyers as well as procurators have adequate opportunity to persuade the court. Under present practice, determination of guilt and sentencing are lumped together. In addition, the new Program favors establishing a public process relating to applications for reductions in sentence and parole. It also supports imposition of a substantial minimum prison sentence for major offenders who...