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Stutsman, Thomas --- "Experimental psychology and criminal justice reform" [2013] ELECD 391; in McConville, Mike; Pils, Eva (eds), "Comparative Perspectives on Criminal Justice in China" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 118

Book Title: Comparative Perspectives on Criminal Justice in China

Editor(s): McConville, Mike; Pils, Eva

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781955857

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: Experimental psychology and criminal justice reform

Author(s): Stutsman, Thomas

Number of pages: 32

Abstract/Description:

Chinese scholarship on criminal justice over the past 30 years has been overwhelmingly theoretical rather than empirical. Zuo (2009) argues that two approaches dominate Chinese criminal procedure scholarship: the comparative approach and the normative approach. Scholars who employ the comparative approach generally look at another country’s criminal justice system to identify differences between that country and China and assess whether China should adopt the foreign practice. Scholars who employ the normative approach use principles or values such as human rights or democracy to evaluate aspects of the Chinese criminal justice system and recommend reforms they believe would better realize these principles or values. Regardless of methodological approach, Chinese scholars rarely systematically collect and analyse data to support their empirical claims about contemporary criminal justice practice or their proposals for reform (Stutsman, 2011, pp. 341–342). But important changes are underway. Chinese scholars increasingly recognize the benefits of social scientific knowledge and empirical research for understanding and reforming the Chinese criminal justice system.