For those who have been inside a Chinese courtroom, the appearance of criminal defendants is often cause for a raised eyebrow or two.
Judges, prosecutors and attorneys all have a fair choice of clothes, but the defendants–yet to be convicted of anything–are usually paraded in dull, pajama-style jail uniforms; an unsubtle emphasis of their status in proceedings.
The Criminal Procedure Law says that no person shall be found guilty without being judged so by a People’s Court. The shamefully shabby appearance of defendants is a stark reminder that full and equal justice is still some way off.
All that is about to change. Obliging criminal defendants and appellants wear uniforms of detention facilities will soon be a thing of the past, according to the Supreme People’ s Court (SPC).
New measures announced on Thursday will change much more than just defendants’ clothes. A wide range of new rules sets out to strengthen professionalism and independence in courts.
