Proper procedure for justice

The document on the mechanism against wrong verdicts that the Supreme People's Court released on Thursday is a timely response to the call to accelerate the building of an efficient and authoritative judicial system.

The call, made at the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that concluded last week, says that such a system should make sure that justice and fairness prevail in every case.

The document issued by the Supreme People's Court requires that confessions obtained through duress, by denying suspects food or sleep, or placing them under extreme conditions of cold or heat, should never be used to incriminate the accused. And a confession alone cannot support a guilty judgment. The document also says that the death penalty can never be imposed without sufficient and solid evidence.