Dedication Ceremony for Mok Sau King Lecture Hall & Distinguished Lecture
PRESSURE VERSUS PUNISHMENT: A Model of Tortured Confessions from Evidence in China
by Professor Xin He, Mok Sau King Professor in Law

3 November 2025
Mok Sau King Lecture Hall (CPD-2.58), Centennial Campus, HKU

Join us for the Dedication Ceremony for the Mok Sau King Lecture Hall, followed by a thought-provoking distinguished lecture by Professor Xin He, Mok Sau King Professor in Law.
As a leading authority on comparative Chinese law, Professor He is widely recognised for his influential work on the role of courts and judicial processes in Chinese society.
In this lecture, Professor He presents a paper that proposes a novel model to understand tortured confessions. It reveals that torture is a response to the pressure to clear cases versus punishments. The model explains the amount of torture across case type and other variables. While this model is informed by the experience from China, it provides insights into other forms of tortured confessions.