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Confessions and Criminal Case Disposition in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Hong Lu  and
Terance D. Miethe
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Abstract

This research examines confessions and criminal case disposition in China. It describes how wider economic reforms in China and subsequent changes in its legal system may have affected the nature and consequence of criminal confessions. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of a sample of 1,009 criminal court cases reveal that the majority of offenders confessed to their crime and that confession is associated with less severe punishments (e.g., lower risks for imprisonment, shorter sentences). Changes in the nature of confession and its impact on criminal court practices are also examined before and after legal reforms in the mid-1990s. These context-specific findings are then discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the interrelationships between legal structure, legal culture, and case disposition in communitarian-based societies.

Type
Articles of General Interest
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , September 2003 , pp. 549 - 578
Copyright
© 2003 Law and Society Association.

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Footnotes

Support for the data collection for this project was provided by a grant to the first author through UNLV's New Investigator Award.

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