Is a 99.9 percent conviction rate something to be proud of, or a sign of a deeply flawed justice system? In China, where only 825 of the 1.16 million people who faced trial in 2013 were found not guilty, it is surely the latter. Last year, Chinese courts reheard more than 1,300 cases and corrected errors in many of them — far too late, in at least one case: The 1996 execution of an 18-year-old Mongolian man named Huugjilt, who, it turned out, had been wrongfully convicted of rape and murder.
On March 12, Zhou Qiang, the president of the Supreme People’s Court, renewed a call to cut back on wrongful convictions, which are epidemic in a legal system that provides almost none of the rights or protections to accused people that are taken for granted in much of the world. “We deeply reproach ourselves for letting wrongful convictions happen,” Mr. Zhou said in his annual report to Parliament.
While Huugjilt’s execution was the trigger for Mr. Zhou’s latest appeal, there are many other examples of wrongful convictions — for instance, when “murder victims” show up alive and well years after their “killer” was convicted and sent to prison.
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