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Geopolitics

Cops In China Use Public Humiliation As Crime Deterrent - And Have Fun To Boot

Analysis: Shaming suspects, parading them in the streets - in China, police believe public humiliation is the best method to deter criminals, a practice dating from ancient times.

Refrain from criminal activities! (IISG)
Refrain from criminal activities! (IISG)
Yang Tao

BEIJING - A few days ago, a taxi driver posted photos on the Internet of a shirtless man handcuffed to a fence in the middle of a road, with two police officers standing by. It was quite obvious that the police were trying to humiliate the man.

A person, even if he has done something illegal, should not become an object of humiliation; once caught, he should be taken to the police station in a timely manner.

According to the taxi driver who posted the photos, this man's crime was simply riding a moped, which was not allowed on that road. In other words he had committed a minor offense. The man cried that his mother had had a heart attack and was dying. The police seemed uninterested in determining if there was any truth in this.

It's common practice for police to use humiliation as a way of enforcing the law. For them, shaming criminals in public is entertaining and fun.

Two months ago in Zhoukou City, police tied up fifty suspects and paraded them in public during a crime-prevention campaign. Two years ago, police in Shenzhen made a public display of prostitutes and their clients. Even more infuriatingly, in a campaign organized to welcome the upcoming Asian Games, two women suspected of prostitution were handcuffed, had their shoes removed, and were taken to the games' sites with ropes attached to their backs.

The police believe that by demonstrating their authority, this will intimidate criminals and prevent confrontations. Even among the public, there is a majority of support for this behavior, because seeing hated criminals being humiliated brings them comfort. They believe it is a deterrent.

However, from the perspective of the rule of law, humiliation goes against the judicial spirit. When a person is detained or arrested, they are only suspected of doing something illegal. Whether or not they are ultimately convicted as criminals depends on the court.

Ancient tradition

In a modern and civilized world, all punishments should be based on clear provisions of the law. Any arbitrary penalty outside of the law simply shouldn't be allowed. In China, publicly shaming criminals has absolutely no legal basis. As early as 1988, two notifications issued by the high court and the Ministry of Public Security clearly banned any public display of people suspected or convicted of a crime, including those on death penalty.

In ancient China, it was a common punishment for the hair, mustache and beard of a criminal to be shaved off. This came from the Confucian idea that one mustn" damage any of the physical attributes inherited from one's parents. Of course, this was by no means the worst humiliation meted out in those times. One would generally have a very unpleasant time before being beheaded and cut into pieces.

That local police today still uses similar methods to insult criminals is essentially a way of governing by fear.

Whether or not a society is governed by the rule of the law is not only reflected in the way authorities treat ordinary people, but also, and most importantly, in the way its criminals are treated. Only by maintaning their humanity and dignity is there a real rule of law.

Read the article in Chinese in the Economic Observer.

Photo - IISG

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Green

Forest Networks? Revisiting The Science Of Trees And Funghi "Reaching Out"

A compelling story about how forest fungal networks communicate has garnered much public interest. Is any of it true?

Thomas Brail films the roots of a cut tree with his smartphone.

Arborist and conservationist Thomas Brail at a clearcutting near his hometown of Mazamet in the Tarn, France.

Melanie Jones, Jason Hoeksema, & Justine Karst

Over the past few years, a fascinating narrative about forests and fungi has captured the public imagination. It holds that the roots of neighboring trees can be connected by fungal filaments, forming massive underground networks that can span entire forests — a so-called wood-wide web. Through this web, the story goes, trees share carbon, water, and other nutrients, and even send chemical warnings of dangers such as insect attacks. The narrative — recounted in books, podcasts, TV series, documentaries, and news articles — has prompted some experts to rethink not only forest management but the relationships between self-interest and altruism in human society.

But is any of it true?

The three of us have studied forest fungi for our whole careers, and even we were surprised by some of the more extraordinary claims surfacing in the media about the wood-wide web. Thinking we had missed something, we thoroughly reviewed 26 field studies, including several of our own, that looked at the role fungal networks play in resource transfer in forests. What we found shows how easily confirmation bias, unchecked claims, and credulous news reporting can, over time, distort research findings beyond recognition. It should serve as a cautionary tale for scientists and journalists alike.

First, let’s be clear: Fungi do grow inside and on tree roots, forming a symbiosis called a mycorrhiza, or fungus-root. Mycorrhizae are essential for the normal growth of trees. Among other things, the fungi can take up from the soil, and transfer to the tree, nutrients that roots could not otherwise access. In return, fungi receive from the roots sugars they need to grow.

As fungal filaments spread out through forest soil, they will often, at least temporarily, physically connect the roots of two neighboring trees. The resulting system of interconnected tree roots is called a common mycorrhizal network, or CMN.

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