Prisons are a necessary evil in our society; an individual breaks the law, and they are thrown in jail to serve time for the crimes that they committed. But what if there was a way to beat the system? What if you could get off from a crime scott-free? That’s the current state of affairs in China, where people with enough wealth and power are actually able to hire stand-ins to take the blame for their crimes. These “body doubles” appear in front of the court when the time comes for a trial and proceed to serve out their client’s time in jail, however long it may be.
A more familiar case concerning this practice was the prosecution of 20-year-old Hu Bin in 2009, when he plowed into a pedestrian on a crosswalk. Tempers rose at first when it appeared as though the police were trying to protect Hu, first claiming that his vehicle had been traveling much slower than it had, and then only sentencing him to 3 years in prison. Matters only got worse when accusations arose saying that the man who appeared in court wasn’t Hu, but hired by Hu to take the fall in his stead. One would think that these allegations would be investigated, but it seems that the law is turning a blind eye and these cases with hired stand-ins are becoming more and more frequent.
Strangely enough, these body doubles are nothing new. Using others to take the fall for your crimes has been happening for centuries, dating back to 1834 in reports made by missionaries when discussing China’s legal system. Stranger still, willing people could still be found for substitutes even when the punishment was death. This may not be as shocking as it seems; if a family is dying of starvation, would it be all that surprising if a parent chose to face death in order to provide for his children?