China

Event Recording: Criminalizing China

In this webinar recorded on April 29, 2020, Seton Hall University Professor Margaret K. Lewis warns that the Department of Justice’s China Initiative is dangerously over-inclusive.

Event Recording: "Was Helping China build its post-1978 legal system a mistake?"

Not long after the United States restored diplomatic relations with post-Mao China in 1979, American lawyers began advising Chinese officials on how to build their legal system. In this webinar recorded on May 6, 2020, USALI’s founder and faculty director emeritus Jerome A. Cohen and his former law student, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations President Stephen A. Orlins, discuss whether this was a mistake. Professor Cohen and Mr. Orlins were among those early legal emissaries. They reflected on what their efforts achieved and failed to achieve, as well as what impact current U.S. government policies toward China may have on China’s continued legal development.

“Was Helping China Build Its Post-1978 Legal System a Mistake?”

“Was Helping China Build Its Post-1978 Legal System a Mistake?”

From USALI Faculty Director Emeritus  Jerome A. Cohen: “Here’s a draft of a new article that in a way is my Apologia Pro Vita Sua. There have been some debates about whether those of us who tried to help China build its legal system in the decade beginning in 1979 committed a mistake. I offer my thoughts in the article from a frank, close-up, first-hand perspective. I hope they will be useful for people thinking about our China policy and for anyone interested in recent Chinese history.”

Beijing News: It is imperative to lower pretrial detention rates and expand the implementation of non-incarceration measures.

Beijing News: It is imperative to lower pretrial detention rates and expand the implementation of non-incarceration measures.

BJNews (Reporter: Wang Jun) Unnecessary detention has long been a problem in judicial practice in China. Zhang Jun, the Chief Prosecutor of the People’s Procuratorate (the SPP), during an address to the national chief prosecutors conference today (January 18, 2020), said that the rates of arrest and pretrial detention must be further decreased, and that it is imperative to expand implementation of non-incarceration measures.

Event Recap: Exonerated! From Central Park to East Asia

Event Recap: Exonerated! From Central Park to East Asia

Wrongful convictions occur in every jurisdiction, and legal professionals around the world should collaborate to redress and prevent them. That was the message of ‘Exonerated! From Central Park to East Asia,’ a speaker event held at the law school on Tuesday, October 8, 2019 by the U.S.-Asia Law Institute (USALI) and co-sponsored by the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law and Asia Law Society.

South China Morning Post: An independent inquiry is still the only way to end the protests and keep Hong Kong’s story from ending tragically

South China Morning Post: An independent inquiry is still the only way to end the protests and keep Hong Kong’s story from ending tragically

Were Mark Twain with us, he might say about citizen action to save Hong Kong what he said about the weather: everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.

China's Challenge to the International Human Rights Regime

China's Challenge to the International Human Rights Regime

Human rights in China is an important research field that the USALI is actively engaged in. Dr. Yu-Jie Chen, our affiliate scholar and a Global Academic Fellow at Hong Kong University Faculty of Law, has just published an article on “China’s Challenge to the International Human Rights Regime” (NYU Journal of International Law and Politics, vol. 51, no. 4, 2019).

Human Rights in the Chinese Administration of Justice

Human Rights in the Chinese Administration of Justice

This paper, published by USALI Affiliated Scholar Yu-Jie Chen, is part of the annual report published by Taiwan’s Foundation for Democracy on human rights in China. It gives an overview of the recent trends, particularly in 2018, regarding human rights issues in the contexts of the Chinese police law enforcement, the National Supervisory Commission, the court and lawyers.

Harvard Book Event: Taiwan and International Human Rights

From Professor Jerome A. Cohen’s Blog:

I'm delighted to announce the publication of a new edited volume, Taiwan and International Human Rights: A Story of Transformation. I admire the hard work of my co-editors and dear friends, Professors Bill Alford of Harvard and LO Chang-fa, former Taiwan Constitutional Court Justice and National Taiwan University Law Dean, that made this book possible.

Implications of the Hong Kong Extradition Bill with Affiliated Scholar Alvin Cheung

Implications of the Hong Kong Extradition Bill with Affiliated Scholar Alvin Cheung

Hong Kong has been in the news over the controversy and protests surrounding the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Bill proposed by the Hong Kong government. Our very own Alvin Cheung has been analyzing the situation across a number of platforms.

China Law & Policy Podcast: Frank Upham - Our Man in Wuhan

On May 29, 2019 Elizabeth Lynch interviewed NYU Law Professor Frank Upham in observance of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. The interview details how in 1989 Professor Upham was a researcher at Wuhan University faculty of law and as a result witnessed the pro-democracy protests that were also occurring in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei Province. Listen / Read Transcript of the Podcast here.

Workshop in China: International Approaches to Sexual Harassment Law

From June 1 – 2, 2019 the U.S.-Asia Law Institute held “International Approaches to Sexual Harassment Law” in partnership with Sichuan University Law School, Chengdu, China. The workshop was structured to explore comparative means of addressing anti-discrimination cases, litigation, mechanisms and standards throughout the world for the purpose of strengthening understanding of international approaches.