Xinhua News, 2009-08-10
The Henan Provincial High Court has been experimenting with increasing and standardizing probation for criminal defendants. In the last three years, the court has sentenced 612 people to only probation without a single case of recidivism among that group, compared to the previous two year period in which only 47 people received probation and 3 became repeat offenders. The court attributes part of its success to the “probation advance notices” it issues to defendants explaining why they received probation and their responsibilities while on probation. In response to public skepticism about “breaking the law and not going to jail,” a basic-level court president, Zheng Shuiquan, explains that probation is only allowed for “minor” criminal cases where the maximum punishment would be less than three years fixed-term imprisonment; “criminal elements” must also display contrition and not be a threat to society. Province-wide, over 17,000 defendants received probation in 2008, accounting for 22.6% of all criminal convictions.
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