When a Henan wife went missing in 1994 amidst marital troubles, suspicion immediately fell on her husband. After a mangled corpse vaguely resembling the woman turned up in a local pond, it was all but case-closed for authorities. However, when the supposed victim turned up very much alive 11 years later, it raised some uncomfortable questions. How had the legal system failed so badly? Who was the washed-up corpse? And where was her real killer?

For today’s episode, we’ve invited Beijing-based writer Robert Foyle Hunwick, who’s done a series of articles examining crime and punishment in China. He helps us dissect how the country’s criminal justice system puts a troubling number of innocent people behind bars, while at the same time lets dangerous criminals run free.We also discuss one the most frightening implications, what one Chinese criminologist has dubbed “a serial killer problem.”

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Links:

Robert Foyle Hunwick (The Diplomat) – China’s Reappearing Murder Victims
Robert Foyle Hunwick (Danwei) – Serial Killers in China
Mara Hvistendahl – And the City Swallowed Them
BBC – Interviews Before Execution
Charlie Custer – Living with Dead Hearts
He Jiahong – Back From The Dead: A Landmark Ruling of Wrongful Conviction in China