A court in Guangzhou, provincial capital of Guangdong, has dramatically reduced a previous verdict of life imprisonment to a five-year jail term on a young man who was convicted of stealing money from a bank by taking advantage of a malfunctioning ATM machine.
The rare change of verdict in such a case was made under pressure of public opinion, which condemned the earlier life-imprisonment sentence as ridiculously too heavy.
This case is of significance. On the positive side, it is evident that in today’s China public opinions, expressed mainly through the Internet and mobile-phone text messages, are playing an increasingly important role in supervision. On the other hand, it questions the independence of China’s judicial system.
Chinese courts are often said to be subject to political interference by the Communist Party and its government. This case seems to suggest that the courts also take public opinion into consideration when they make rulings. This may be unthinkable in a place where the judicial system is independent. However, the judicial system with "Chinese characteristics" could hardly be said to be independent, so it may not be such a bad a thing if the public becomes a check on political influence.
Uh, isn't this like the last thing we want to be encouraging? The judiciary in China has come a very long way over the past few years. Whether public opinion operates as a check against certain kinds of government interference or not, this pretty much sends the wrong message to judges, doesn't it?
I don't know about you, but I would not want my fate to be decided by a judge who was checking out which way the wind of public opinion was blowing. And if you tell me that this a good way for the public to get their concerns acknowledged, I would tell you not to bring politics into the courtroom – there's enough of that already.