Opinion | Hong Kong needs a compensation law for wrongful imprisonment
- Mainland Chinese courts recently expanded on the compensation rights of those wrongly jailed, as part of efforts to improve the criminal justice system
- Hong Kong can look towards the mainland, and Britain, where there are specific legal frameworks for statutory compensation
Wrong convictions are devastating for the individual and bring criminal justice into disrepute. Although this can happen in even the most careful of legal systems, its chances are minimised if high standards of proof are adopted, as in Hong Kong.
In mainland China, since the 2013 reforms, prosecutors must support each fact on which they rely with evidence, ensure evidence is legally admissible, and establish their case beyond a reasonable doubt. Serious attempts have also been made to review convictions based solely on confessional evidence. Shocking instances of wrongful conviction have been discovered, which the authorities have not sought to conceal.
On October 20, the state awarded Zhang 4.9 million yuan (US$749,000) in compensation, the largest sum ever awarded to a victim of wrongful imprisonment. Zhang has said that “I can’t buy back 27 years of my youth” but the money should at least facilitate his reintegration into society.
