FCC club lunch with Mike McCONVILLE

Speaker: Professor Mike McCONVILLE
Dean, Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Topic: Inside the Chinese Judiciary – how it really works

Professor Mike McCONVILLE examined the role of judges in Mainland China in everyday criminal cases from initial prosecution to verdict and sentence, at an FCC club lunch session on 25 July 2011. Focusing on a single miscarriage of justice, he discussed whether the errors which brought about a wrongful conviction are atypical or whether they provide insights into more systemic failings of criminal justice in China. The discussion was illuminated by reference to a large-scale empirical project conducted across 13 court venues in China involving analysis of prosecution case files, observation of actual trials and interviews with judges, prosecutors and lawyers.

The speaker has a new book out on the above subject, “Criminal Justice in China: An Empirical Inquiry”.

Professor McCONVILLE is Dean of the Faculty of Law of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is known internationally for pioneering empirical work on such issues such as custodial advice and interrogation, plea bargaining, jury trials, the defence work of solicitors, the defence of the poor, confessions and community policing. He has also undertaken advisory work in countries undergoing social transition including Latvia, Turkey, Malawi, Peru and China.