The Will (Not) to Punish: How Chinese Judges Convict
Date & Time: September 8, 2025 (Monday) 12:00-13:00
Venue: Academic Conference Room, 11/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong
Language: English
(In-person event)
Abstract:
This article examines the criminal conviction process in Chinese minor criminal cases. Drawing on participant observation in a lower court and interviews with judges, it traces a transformation from a ‘will not to punish’ to a ‘will to punish’. The former reflects the moral and emotional hurdles that judges must grapple with before imposing criminal sanctions. These hurdles stem from their knowledge of defendants’ socio-economic backgrounds, their direct interactions with defendants, and their concerns over the coercive and arbitrary power of police and procurators. The article shows how judges confront and overcome these reservations, leading to convictions in nearly every case they handle. It reveals that judges often invoke different – and at times contradictory – frames regarding defendants and penal authorities, depending on whether they are backstage or frontstage in the courtroom, and whether they are speaking about the criminal justice system in general or reflecting on specific cases. Through these discrepancies in framing, criminal convictions are rendered morally and emotionally justifiable for Chinese judges.
Speaker:
Dr. Sitao Li is a Laureate Fellow at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. A socio-legal scholar and criminologist, his research examines how legality and state politics intersect to shape judicial behaviour, with a particular focus on the everyday work of judges and the penal experiences of criminal defendants in China. By closely analysing the micro-level practices of courts, his scholarship investigates how political power is embedded in routine judicial work – through the shifting roles judges must play, the institutional constraints they navigate, and the subtle mechanisms that sustain political control without constant intervention.
He has published widely on Chinese courts, human rights, and socio-legal research in leading journals, including Law & Society Review, British Journal of Criminology, Annual Review of Sociology, and Hong Kong Law Journal. Sitao holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Toronto, a JD from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, and a BA in Political Science from UC Berkeley.
Chair:
Professor Sida Liu is Professor of Law and Sociology, and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Law at The University of Hong Kong.
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