In China, the rich and powerful can hire body doubles to do their prison time for them

The practice of hiring “body doubles” or “stand-ins” is well-documented by official Chinese media. In 2009, a hospital president who caused a deadly traffic accident hired an employee’s father to “confess” and serve as his stand-in. A company chairman is currently charged with allegedly arranging criminal substitutes for the executives of two other companies. In another case, after hitting and killing a motorcyclist, a man driving without a license hired a substitute for roughly $8,000.

The owner of a demolition company that illegally demolished a home earlier this year hired a destitute man, who made his living scavenging in the rubble of razed homes, and promised him $31 for each day the “body double” spent in jail. In China, the practice is so common that there is even a term for it: ding zui. Ding means “substitute,” and zui means “crime”; in other words, “substitute criminal.”

Source: Slate.com

Just fyi, this is my first post.

Its amazing what you can get away with when your pockets and connections are deep. I do wonder how many people worldwide are guilty of this as well?

Maybe Assange should take note.

reply to post by Lysis


Hmm..im wondering about Bernie Madoff now.

Is there no end to the growing gap between those with lots of money and those with little or none?

Forced organ harvesting and now this in China.

Great first post, are you the only stand in?

I'm just curious of the practicalities of going about this.

Do you get charged, released in bail then sort this out with some poor person or do the crime and get someone groomed to confess for you before the police come looking for you? Just seems weird, but China has alot of things ppl turn a blind eye to, like organ harvesting. Money rules the world as they say.

If you were a paid stand in at an American jail you could be spending all the money you made on lube and therapy.

reply to post by Lysis


We do this in the states, too. Only they aren't "doubles", they are just called "patsies", "scapegoats", or "fall guys". How often do you see a US millionaire go to jail?

reply to post by Cuervo


Point taken. Millionaires have the resources for lengthy trials and appeals. However, some millionaires do serve some time depending on how high profile their case is. Martha Stewart comes to mind. However, she was a billionaire that only served 5 months in prison.

reply to post by Dr Expired


It kind of shows where all this Chinese Growth is going,not the people, that's for sure.
I hate to see the middle class disappear,i hate it.

Edit: Oh yeah.welcome to ATS.good post mate

reply to post by metodex


Chinese growth is definitely not in favor of the people right now. Its growing too fast at an unsustainable and seemingly artificial rate. In order to keep up as well as build up their GDP further, they've been building sprawling cities all over China that no one lives in. The reason? Hardly anyone in China can afford to live in these newly built cities.

Check it out. Business Insider