A theoretical model for extradition between China, Hong Kong SAR, and Macau SAR. 

Hong Kong and Macau have both been Special Administrative Regions of China since 1999. To this day, however, the two SARs and mainland China have yet to form a cohesive agreement for extradition. Yanhong Yin proposes a theoretical model, the China Arrest Warrant, that fulfills three essential criteria: compliance with the framework of “one country, two systems,” allowance for differences within the three divergent legal systems, and sufficient human rights protection.

This model takes direct inspiration from the European Arrest Warrant, which is undergirded by the principle of mutual recognition—the idea that while states may make different decisions on a wide range of matters, results will be accepted equivalently to decisions made by one’s own state. The success of the European Union’s adoption of mutual recognition across political, economic, and legal situations is instrumental in providing a blueprint for judicial cooperation among mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, and Macau SAR.

The Idea of a China Arrest Warrant seeks to resolve a legal quandary that has existed for decades without resolution, and is essential reading in criminal and constitutional law.

The criminal justice process is unavoidably human. Police detectives, witnesses, suspects, and victims shape the course of investigations, while prosecutors, defense attorneys, jurors, and judges affect the outcome of adjudication. In this sweeping review of psychological research, Dan Simon shows how flawed investigations can produce erroneous evidence and why well-meaning juries send innocent people to prison and set the guilty free.

The investigator’s task is genuinely difficult and prone to bias. This often leads investigators to draw faulty conclusions, assess suspects’ truthfulness incorrectly, and conduct coercive interrogations that can lead to false confessions. Eyewitnesses’ identification of perpetrators and detailed recollections of criminal events rely on cognitive processes that are often mistaken and can easily be skewed by the investigative procedures used. In the courtroom, jurors and judges are ill-equipped to assess the accuracy of testimony, especially in the face of the heavy-handed rhetoric and strong emotions that crimes arouse.

Simon offers an array of feasible ways to improve the accuracy of criminal investigations and trials. While the limitations of human cognition will always be an obstacle, these reforms can enhance the criminal justice system’s ability to decide correctly whom to release and whom to punish.

An Open Letters Monthly Best Nonfiction Book of the Year

America’s criminal justice system is broken. The United States punishes at a higher per capita rate than any other country in the world. In the last twenty years, incarceration rates have risen 500 percent. Sentences are harsh, prisons are overcrowded, life inside is dangerous, and rehabilitation programs are ineffective. Looking not only to court records but to works of philosophy, history, and literature for illumination, Robert Ferguson, a distinguished law professor, diagnoses all parts of a now massive, out-of-control punishment regime.

“If I had won the $400 million Powerball lottery last week I swear I would have ordered a copy for every member of Congress, every judge in America, every prosecutor, and every state prison official and lawmaker who controls the life of even one of the millions of inmates who exist today, many in inhumane and deplorable conditions, in our nation’s prisons.”
—Andrew Cohen, The Atlantic

“Inferno is a passionate, wide-ranging effort to understand and challenge…our heavy reliance on imprisonment. It is an important book, especially for those (like me) who are inclined towards avoidance and tragic complacency…[Ferguson’s] book is too balanced and thoughtful to be disregarded.”
—Robert F. Nagel, Weekly Standard