Continuation of Systemic Failures: from Cui Ning to Contemporary Wrongful Conviction Cases in China

Abstract

The wrongful conviction of Cui Ning is a famous short novel first recorded in the Song dynasty. It tells of a story about the wrongful conviction and execution of two innocent people, Cui Ning and madam Chen. In this study, we pay particular attention to systemic failures that led to the miscarriage of justice in this case, including presumption of guilt, use of torture, improper influence of public opinion, lack of effective defense rights and appeal procedures, and lack of checks and balances within the criminal justice system. We further examine continuation of these systemic failures in four contemporary wrongful conviction cases including Teng Xingshan (1987), She Xianglin (1994), Nie Shubin (1995), and Huugjilt (1996). The continuation of these systemic failures provides important lessons to China’s contemporary criminal justice system.