It was reported on the CCTV talk show, "Society in the News" (shehui jilu), two weeks ago that in Haozhou city of East China's Anhui Province, the headmaster of a technical school came up with a freakish idea of trying cases of theft in his school.

In any case of pilferage reported, the headmaster, surnamed Cai, would conduct a poll of students to decide who was the "culprit". Whoever topped the poll was supposed to be the "wrong-doer" and students whose names also appeared on the ballots were to be considered "suspects".

The "thief" as well as the "suspects" would not only be fined varying amounts based on the "votes" they had received, but would also be paraded around the campus as another punishment for their alleged "misbehaviour".

This grotesque, Arabian Nights-like "judicial proceeding" advocated by the headmaster to identify a thief constitutes a gross encroachment on the civil rights everyone is entitled to under the law. It must be the most preposterous and arbitrary approach ever conceived by a person of his standing in declaring someone guilty without any evidence. No doubt, many students have been grievously wronged.

We all know that the most fundamental principle for the administration of justice is to take facts as the basis, and the law as the criterion in judging any case. Even if the case is of very little importance, involving trivial loss, seeking truth from facts shall always be the norm for action. However, the protagonist in our story, instead of taking the trouble to make an investigation to get things straightened out, took the law into his own hands by resorting to a simple minority-vs-majority rule to settle the issue.

This would bring about a huge negative impact on those suffering an injustice as a result of the polls as well as on those who cast a vote. For the former, any unfair ruling might evolve into a lingering spectre that they would hardly be able to clear from their mind for a long time and even cause psychological problems. For the latter, if a student knows nothing about the alleged misdeed, his or her vote is based on sheer supposition. If someone happened to harbour evil intentions, their vote provides them with a good opportunity to make vindictive attacks against others. The vote and the way it was conducted, might therefore also worsen otherwise amicable relations between fellow schoolmates.

The only correct approach in dealing with such petty cases, I think, should be to encourage those who know the truth to speak up, complete with a follow-up session to implant elementary knowledge of the law, using the case in question as the teaching material. This could turn out to be a live class to enlighten students on basic ideas about the law and legal procedures.

Furthermore, in today's society where most students are, to varying degrees, influenced by commercialism, it becomes all the more urgent to strengthen ideological and moral education by distinguishing clearly between right and wrong. So the case in question is also of significant moral value for minors.

The kangaroo-court method of finding a thief or suspect is sheer defiance of the law, not only in China, but around the world. It is, however, hard to believe that some victims, swallowing their humiliation, admitted to "thieving" by paying a fine in order not to impair their future job prospects. Even a number of parents have sided with the school authorities, saying the "well thought-out move" was for the good of their children.

And I believe that similar illegal outrages are not small in number in our country, especially in remote rural areas. While a series of national campaigns to enhance legal education have been held over the years to boost awareness of the law among the public, basic legal knowledge does not seem to have taken root in the hearts of the people, including officials at various levels of government. All this shows what a long journey we have yet to take in the field of legal education.

We have adopted hundreds of laws and regulations over the past couple of decades. However, many ordinary people remain unfamiliar with, or even completely ignorant of, them. All the time and effort devoted in the past to spreading knowledge and improving awareness of the country's legal system, it seems, have not yielded the desired effect. This is understandable from a historical viewpoint, as we have experienced so many ups and downs in social changes. It requires painstaking efforts over a long term to awaken people to the importance of the spirit of law.

To increase efficiency in spreading legal awareness to the masses, it is not enough merely to explain universal guidelines. Lectures on the basics of the law must be coupled with what I believe is a more impressive and convincing form of instruction: that is, using cases around us as important teaching materials, such as the one described above.

It would be better if the administrative authorities in schools could engage experts from legal circles to help with promoting knowledge of the law. Increased legal awareness among the common people is of critical importance in the building of a modern society in China. It is a long way off but we will make it.

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