A legal rule set in which Dirty Harry would revel

Kahn is a good reporter on China. Solid piece.

December 3, 2005

Torture Is 'Widespread' in China, U.N. Investigator Says

By JOSEPH KAHN



BEIJING, Dec. 2 - A high-level United Nations investigator condemned the "widespread" use of torture in Chinese law enforcement and said Beijing must overhaul its criminal laws, grant more power to judges and abolish labor camps before it can end such abuses, according to a summary of his findings released Friday.

The investigation, by Manfred Nowak, the special rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, noted some progress by Chinese officials in reducing violence against prisoners since the country signed an international covenant banning torture in 1988.

But Mr. Nowak said that "obtaining confessions" and fighting "deviant behavior" continued to be central goals of China's criminal justice system. The police and prison guards are pushed to extract admissions of guilt and are rarely punished for using electric shock, sleep deprivation and submersion in water or sewage, among other techniques the Commission on Human Rights considers torture, to obtain them, he said.

"The use of torture, though on the decline, particularly in urban areas, nevertheless remains widespread in China," Mr. Nowak said at a news briefing in Beijing. "There is a need for much more structural reform to address the problem" . . .

China's legal system reflects its socialist past far too much. Way too titled against the accused, much like the Russian one still. A system Dirty Harry would love, but it has a pre-Miranda feeling to it: busting heads to get confessions is no problem. Add in the political aspect of some prosecutions, and it's a bad mix for business.

No arguments with this piece: it just places China's legal system many decades into our past. The question we need to ask is, "What is the best way to pull China's legal system forward?"

Is it hectoring? Or pushing further economic integration that triggers more social and business demands for legal transparency in the system?

Well, think for a minute . .. how did our system come about?

Go here for the full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/03/international/asia/03china.html

Perhaps the most interesting comparison right now is between how America is choosing to wage the Global War on Terrorism and how China typically works criminality in its system. Scary how similar they are, yes?