10 - Corruption in China's Courts

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Corruption in China's courts is a neglected field of study in both Chinese and English language academic circles. Although scholars and commentators have pointed out various deficiencies in the operation of courts, their relation to corruption has never been closely examined, let alone systematically investigated. Policymakers as well as scholars seem rather more ready to attribute judicial problems to external factors, such as undue interference from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), lack of resources, and local protectionism. Even when scholars pay attention, they do so most often only in passing. This casual treatment of corruption in the courts has resulted in the marginalization of the problem in academic discourse. As a result, corruption in the courts appears omnipresent yet untraceable and elusive.

The relative scarcity of studies on this topic is perhaps attributed to the sensitive nature of the topic, which makes empirical research difficult. The fact that corruption is openly denounced and severely punished in China makes interviews with judges or other court officials difficult. Even for punished and closed corruption cases against court officials, access to case files is highly restricted. For researchers, attending court trials sometimes may yield interesting findings. However, what is seen in courtrooms provides little information on what happened behind the scenes. This lack of data makes any systematic analysis of corruption in the courts immensely challenging.