Criminal Justice in China

China's criminal justice system is steeply tilted in favor of the police and prosecutors. The
vast majority of cases turn on confessions by suspects who have no access to defense
lawyers until long after interrogation, if ever.

 Political System
China's criminal justice system consists of police, procurates, courts and
correctional institutions. At the central level, the Ministry of Public Security and the
Ministry of Justice administer China's police and correctional institutions,
respectively.
 Legal System.
The legal system of the People's Republic of China is typically Marxist. As
declared under the first article of the Criminal Law, Marxist - Leninist - Mao
Zedong Thought are the guiding principles of the present law.

History in Criminal Justice in China

Historically, each dynasty in China had their own written statutes and customary laws
comprising their criminal law. Famous ancient criminal statutes include the Yuxing
criminal laws of the Xia Dynasty, the Tandxing criminal laws of the Shang Dynasty, the
Jiuxing criminal laws of the Zhou Dynasty, the Qinlu laws of the Qing Dynasty, the Hanlu
laws of the Han Dynasty, the Tanglu laws of the Tang Dynasty, the Daminglu criminal
code of the Ming Dynasty, and the Daqing luli criminal code of the Qing Dynasty.

Component of the Criminal Justice System in China

 People’s Court
The people's courts are judicial organs exercising judicial power on behalf of the
states. According to the Constitution and the Organic Law of the People's Courts
of 1979 as amended in 1983, China practices a system of courts characterized
by " four levels and two instance of trials". The judicial authority of the PRC is
exercised by the following people's courts: local people's courts at various levels;
military courts and other special people's courts and the Supreme People's
Courts. The local people's courts are divided into basic people's courts,
intermediate people's courts and higher people's courts.

Procuratorate, system

The people's procuratorates in China are state organs of legal supervision. Their
organization corresponds to that of the people's courts. The current procurator-
general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate is Jia Chunwan
  Public security system

The Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China is the principal police and
security authority of the People's Republic of China and the government ministry that
exercises oversight over and is ultimately responsible for day-to-day law enforcement. It
currently has 1.9 million officers

Age of criminal responsibility

The age of criminal responsibility is 16. However, a person between the ages of 14 and
16 who commits homicide, infliction of serious bodily injury, robbery, arson, habitual
theft, or any other crime which seriously undermines the social order bears full criminal
responsibility. Under this circumstance, the severity of the punishment is lighter or
mitigated. The death penalty is not allowed to be imposed on a person under the age
of 18.

POLICE Administration

In the People's Republic of China, the police agencies include the Ministry of Public
Security at the central level, the local public security bureaus at various levels and
public security forces for railways, highways, navigation, air transport, forests and other
fields. The organizational structure from top to bottom is: Ministry of Public Security,
Provincial Public Security Departments/Bureaus, Prefectural Public Security
Departments/Bureaus, County Public Security Bureaus, Local Police Stations. In addition,
the Public Security Offices of Ministry of Railways and Public Security Offices of Ministry
of Communications also fall under the authority of the Ministry of Public Security.

Crime Rate in China

The crime rate in China has shown a drastic increase in recent years. Still China remains
one of the countries with the lowest crime rate in the world. Of all the crimes reported,
theft accounted for about 80%, but the violent crimes like murder and robbery were
also up. Crimes associated with gangs abroad, such as trafficking in narcotics,
smuggling of gold and relics, and counterfeiting of currency and credit cards also
increased during 1988.