Assessing china's sentencing standardization for illegal drug possession: achievements and challenges

Abstract

Over a decade has passed since China implemented nationwide sentencing standardization to address inconsistent sentencing in criminal justice, particularly for drug-related offenses. An analysis of 1,595 written judgments on illegal drug possession reveals that the reform has significantly improved sentencing consistency for amount-based crimes. The reform has led to highly standardized judicial discretion, with a stronger correlation between drug quantities and imprisonment terms under similar circumstances, aligning closely with formal justice principles. However, the effectiveness of standardization diminishes as drug quantities increase, highlighting limitations in the standardized sentencing model. Challenges include the conflation of drug amounts and case circumstances, imbalances between crime severity and punishment, and inconsistent application of discretionary factors based on drug quantities. These issues underscore the need for further refinement in sentencing reforms to ensure legitimacy and balance. Future reforms should focus on enhancing the sentencing framework by integrating both formal and substantive justice, refining the model to better account for complex cases, and addressing discrepancies in discretionary sentencing. This study emphasizes the necessity of ongoing evaluation to strengthen the normative impact of sentencing guidelines and achieve equitable outcomes in China’s criminal justice system.