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Dobinson, Ian --- "The guilty plea: an Australian/Chinese comparison" [2013] ELECD 394; in McConville, Mike; Pils, Eva (eds), "Comparative Perspectives on Criminal Justice in China" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 187

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 8

Section Title: The guilty plea: an Australian/Chinese comparison

Author(s): Dobinson, Ian

Number of pages: 19

Abstract/Description:

Recent New South Wales criminal court statistics report that approximately 87 per cent of defendants in the Local (Magistrates’) Courts pleaded guilty to the charges laid. In the Higher Courts (Supreme and District Courts), a lower, but still significant majority (76 per cent) pleaded guilty (NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BCSR), 2010, pp. 3 and 12, respectively). While the 1996 Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) does not require Chinese suspects to plead guilty or not guilty, this is very similar to the figures from Criminal Justice in China: An Empirical Enquiry where it was found that nearly 91 per cent of Basic Court defendants totally agreed or partially agreed with the charges laid. In the Intermediate Courts the figure was 85 per cent (McConville et al, 2011, p. 240). Not only is there statistical similarity but, at first glance, the reasons for defendants pleading guilty or accepting the charges in Australia and China respectively are also largely the same: namely to benefit from any reduction in sentence for doing so. There would also appear to be some statutory similarity.