Judicial interpretations are also issued by the Supreme People’s Court, as guidelines, which are nationally enforceable. As China opened up to Western experience after the Cultural Revolution, elements of a more adversarial criminal justice system were introduced through contacts with common law countries. Limited debate between the prosecution and defence is now allowed in court. The court is not, however, central to criminal proceedings. Criminal law The People’s Republic of China first adopted a criminal law in the reform period following the end of the Cultural Revolution. The 1979 Criminal Law has since been revised ten times and the 1979 Criminal Procedure Law was revised in 1996, 2012 and 2018. A criminal case begins with the investigation stage overseen by the police, at the local level. Following approval of arrest, the procuratorate oversees the prosecution phase which may entail requests for further investigations. Once the procuratorate is satisfied by the evidence, the case will enter the trial stage, including a court hearing. There are time limits for each stage of the proceedings, but the possibility of requesting further investigations or clarification can extend each stage by several months. The Criminal Procedure Law is the principal legislation governing the treatment of persons who are subject to the criminal law and criminal penalties in China. Not all forms of deprivation of liberty are regulated by the criminal law. Under the Administrative Punishment Law, short term detention, usually up to fifteen days, is permitted for administrative offences. The use of compulsory isolation centres for drug rehabilitation is permitted under the Anti-Drug Law. Much of the large-scale detention of Uyghurs in XUAR is not legal under Chinese law.8 Anyone suspected of a crime in China may be detained by the police for further investigation. Detainees should be transferred within 24 hours to a detention centre (kanshousuo) where they will be held pre-trial. The police have a maximum of 30 days to submit a request to the procuratorate to approve the daibu, a term normally translated as ‘arrest’, but which corresponds more closely to charging in many jurisdictions. Arrest in Chinese criminal procedure is a ‘compulsory measure’ and includes deprivation of liberty. Pre-trial release remains the exception. Anyone suspected of one of three categories of offence: terrorism, national security and corruption, all of which carry the risk of the death penalty, may be held for up to six months in unregulated facilities prior to being transferred to a detention centre and the formal criminal justice system. The Criminal Procedure Law authorises the use of ‘residential surveillance in a designated location’ (RSDL) for those being investigated for national security and terrorism offences while those suspected of corruption can be ‘retained in custody’ (liuzhi) for up to six months under the National Security Law. 8 Clarke, Donald. ‘No, New Xinjiang Legislation Does Not Legalize Detention Centers.’ Lawfare Blog, 11 October 2018. https://www.lawfareblog.com/no-new-xinjiang-legislation-does-not-legalize-detention-centers. 9