On 21 Feb. 2025, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the second batch of seven typical cases involving people’s assessors in trials, highlighting their role in major cases concerning public interest and ethical controversies.
In cases that drew widespread public attention in China, such as the Chongqing Siblings Falling Death Case and the Yu Huaying Child Trafficking Case (involving 17 children), the people’s court formed seven-member collegial panels composed of four people’s assessors and three judges. They analyzed the cases from the perspectives of public order, good customs, and ethical standards.
The typical cases also reflect the intersection between professional fields and public interest. For instance, in a work-related injury determination case where an employee of a laboratory animal breeding institution was infected with the herpes B virus, an assessor with a medical background provided an independent opinion from the perspective of occupational risk. This helped the court reach a judgment that balanced professional expertise with the common public understanding.
Since the implementation of the People’s Assessors Law in 2018, Chinese courts have appointed 341,000 people’s assessors, more than three times the number of primary court judges. By the end of 2024, assessors had participated in concluding 14.06 million first-instance cases, including 35,000 major cases heard under the seven-member collegial panel model.