This book investigates the policy implications, discursive ethos and practical realities of plea-based case dispositions in the criminal justice system of four Chinese-speaking jurisdictions, including Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

1. Introduction.- 2. Plea Leniency in Mainland China: Legislation, Characteristics and Effects.- 3. Plea Leniency and Prosecution Centeredness in China’s Criminal Process.- 4. Guilty Pleas and New Challenges to Criminal Defence in China.- 5. Is Plea Leniency Really a Bargain: An Empirical Study of Six Cities in China.- 6. Behind the Scenes: Exploring the Legal and Cultural Factors of Taiwan’s Plea Bargain System.- 7. Judicial Paternalism and the Stagnant Bargaining Process in Taiwan.- 8. The Courts, the Prosecution, and the Defence in Plea-Based Case Dispositions in Hong Kong.- 9. Pressuring Defendants to Plead Guilty? A Comparative Analysis of Plea-based Justice in Mainland China and Hong Kong.- 10. Prosecution or Mediation: Perpetrator-Victim Negotiation in Macau and the Way Forward.- 11. The Many Cultural Manifestations of Convictions through Pleas in Greater China: An International Perspective.

This book investigates the policy implications, discursive ethos and practical realities of plea-based case dispositions in the criminal justice system of four Chinese-speaking jurisdictions, including Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. It aims to provide fresh and cutting-edge insights into important legal, social and cultural issues found throughout plea-based case dispositions in Greater China, but in a geographically specific manner – providing an in-depth view of issues that can help forge connections and inspire creative solutions for scholars gaining understanding of common problems across the societies in question. The book includes an introduction and conclusion with 9 chapters. Based on a diverse range of first-hand data and secondary sources of information, topics covered in the chapters represent multiangle perspectives and analysis that help to construct a sophisticated, intricate and evidence-based portrait of locally informed approaches to case disposition through pleas in Chinese-speaking societies. Enshen Li is an associate professor at the School of Law, City University of Hong Kong. His research lies at the intersection of several research fields: terrorism, criminal justice, theoretical criminology and socio-legal studies of punishment. He is the author of Punishment in Contemporary China: Its Evolution, Development and Change. Xiaoyu Yuan is an associate professor at the School of Criminal Justice, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. She is the author of the book Restorative Justice in China: Comparing Theory and Practice. She has focused on issues in criminal justice and comparative criminology. Yan Zhang is a research assistant professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Macau. He obtained his PhD at the Australian National University. His research focus is restorative justice, qualitative research, and regulation and governance. Yan currently serves as the managing editor of the Asian Journal of Criminology.