On the afternoon of 7 Mar. 2023, Zhou Qiang (周強), then President of China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC), delivered an SPC’s work report to the first session of the 14th National People’s Congress, covering how the Chinese court system has been doing in past five years.

The highlights are summarized as follows:

1. The SPC accepted 149,000 cases and concluded 145,000 cases. It formulated 114 judicial interpretations and issued 119 guiding cases.
2. Local courts at all levels and special courts accepted 147 million cases, and concluded and executed 144 million cases. The amount involved in concluded cases was CNY 37.3 trillion (about USD 5.4 trillion).
3. Chinese courts concluded 5.906 million criminal cases in first instance and sentenced 7.761 million criminals to penalties.
4. Chinese courts concluded 347,000 drug-related criminal cases and sentenced 442,000 criminals to penalties.
5. Chinese courts concluded 119,000 cases of corruption, bribery and other duty-related crimes, and sentenced 139,000 criminals to penalties.
6. Chinese courts concluded 24.723 million commercial cases and 45.833 million civil cases in the first instance.
7. Chinese courts concluded 2.194 million intellectual property cases in the first instance, an increase of 221.1% year-on-year.
8. Chinese courts concluded 47,000 bankruptcy cases, involving claims of CNY 6.3 trillion (about USD 0.9 trillion).
9. Chinese courts concluded 95,000 foreign-related commercial cases and 76,000 maritime cases.
10. The number of juvenile criminals sentenced by Chinese courts reduced from 56,000 in 2013 to 28,000 in 2022.
11. Chinese courts applied the joint credit disciplinary mechanism to force 9.18 million people to voluntarily fulfill their debts due to the pressure of credit discipline.
12. Chinese courts acquitted 2,675 defendants in public prosecution cases and 2,097 defendants in private prosecution cases in accordance with the law.
13. 23,593 convicts were granted amnesty by Chinese courts.

Cover Photo by manos koutras on Unsplash

Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team

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