Punishing people for relatives' crimes comes under scrutiny in China

Legal experts call for reforming long-standing 'collective punishment' practice

20240919 Caixin

Collective punishment can keep law-abiding citizens out of the civil service, university programs and the military if they are related to a convicted criminal.

HUANG YUXIN and KELLY WANG, Caixin

Legal experts in China are pushing to reform a long-standing practice that can cause law-abiding citizens to lose their shot at joining the civil service or getting into certain university programs or the military if they happen to be related to a convicted criminal.

The reform push has the potential to curtail the practice, known as collective punishment, which has been criticized for violating basic legal norms and putting a vast share of China's population at risk of being punished for the actions of another.

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