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Comparative Empirical Co-ordinates and the Dynamics of Criminal Justice in China and the West

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Abstract

This abridgement from Chap. 2 in Mike McConville and Eva Pils’ edited collection Comparative Criminal Justice in China (2005) compares the criminal justice systems in the United Kingdom and China and their relationship to the state. Although the law promises equal justice in liberal democracies, there are tendencies towards illicit behaviour both in responses to everyday cases and at times of crisis. In China, the rule of law as an ideal is secondary to the demands of the Party-state and a mechanism that supports state power. The chapter looks at the role of the police, prosecutors, courts and defence lawyers in each country, focusing on how the criminal justice system achieves legitimacy.

This is an abridgement, without footnotes, from Chap. 2 in Mike McConville and Eva Pils (eds.) 2005 Comparative Criminal Justice in China, Edward Elgar, Chichester, pp. 13–69.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, SAR

    Mike McConville

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  1. Mike McConville
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Correspondence to Mike McConville .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau, China

    Jianhong Liu

  2. School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Max Travers

  3. School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Lennon Y.C. Chang

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McConville, M. (2017). Comparative Empirical Co-ordinates and the Dynamics of Criminal Justice in China and the West. In: Liu, J., Travers, M., Chang, L. (eds) Comparative Criminology in Asia. Springer Series on Asian Criminology and Criminal Justice Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54942-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54942-2_4

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