China targets judicial corruption in commutation

Criminals convicted of the three crimes should be prevented from applying for commutation for a period, while those sentenced to life in jail should not be eligible for remission until they have served three years, it said. Once the life-termer is granted commutation, they should be refused further remission within two years and each abatement of sentences should not be over one year, it added. According to the document, convicts with diseases are not allowed to serve their sentences outside jail if they do not cooperate with medical treatment arranged by penalty enforcement organs or they are likely to present a danger to society outside jail. The commission called for procedures on commutation, parole and serving a sentence outside jail to be made public in order to prevent judicial corruption. Under the current law, requests for a convict's remission should be proposed by jails, detention houses or other penalty enforcement organs, and then submitted to the courts, with procuratorates supervising the whole procedure. Submissions of commutation, probation and serving a sentence outside jail should be made public and subsequent verdicts by the courts must be published on their official websites, the document noted. Hearings are needed when it comes to remission for convicted officials above county level involved in job-related crimes, and criminals convicted of death sentences with a reprieve or life sentence for disrupting financial order or financial fraud, it said. It is certain that publicizing submissions and verdicts in warranting remission will effectively curb judicial corruption concerning commutation and probation, said Zhou Guangquan, law professor of Tsinghua University.