Uniform exemptions introduced for criminal suspects
- By Zhang Yan
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E-mail China.org.cn, February 28, 2015
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The Supreme Court's ban on having suspects wear uniforms is a good beginning. |
Suspects of criminal offences will be exempted from wearing identification uniforms, such as vests and jump suits, during court trials, according to a recent memo released by the Supreme People's Court of China on Feb. 26.
The public used to take it for granted that suspects should stand trial wearing uniforms. But before a verdict is reached, one cannot simply rule whether a suspect is guilty, or think of the person on trial as a convict. Even if all the evidence seems to lead to the verdict, the suspect deserves basic respect before the verdict is announced. Hence, making suspects wear criminal uniforms does not seem proper.
One may also have noticed that government officials were exempt from wearing uniforms during trial. The difference made the public think that the privilege was reserved for officials only, before it shadows the fair nature of the rule of law. Therefore, removing identification uniforms from all suspects shows respect for their basic rights, besides smoothing away the public's anxiety over fairness.
The Supreme Court's decision represents major progress in the country's legal system, and deserves encouragement, since the rule of law is made of all details.
But the decision is not entirely unprecedented. In 2013, the Higher People's Court of Henan Province already proposed that "criminal suspects will no longer be required to shave their head, wear an identification uniform, wear shackles or stand in a cage in court trials." The court also piloted having criminal suspects sit with their defence lawyers, rather than stand face to face with the judge, although the reform plan has yet to be approved.
Henan Higher Court's ideas and attempts represent progress in the rule of law, and should be promoted nationwide. Like identification uniforms, a shaved head and shackles are icons of crime, and will mislead the public in its opinion about the suspects to be tried.
Putting such ideas into practice is not easy and will require the court to explicitly tell the detention centers to keep the suspects' hair, since in the past, shaving their heads was the first thing they did when a suspect was taken into custody. But since China has decided to better suspects' rights in letting the rule of law prevail, all law enforcement department should work together to implement these new measures.
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