On the evening of 30 September 2022, Professor Julian Robert from the University of Oxford was invited to give a lecture on “Comparative Litigation Systems” to the postgraduate students of the School of Law of Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) on “Current Key Issues in Criminal Justice in England and Wales”, with the participation of more than 30 postgraduate students from China, Germany, Russia and other countries.

Professor Julian Robert, Professor at the University of Oxford Law School, the Centre for Criminal Law Studies and Worcester College, was awarded the American Society of Criminology's Celine Gluck Prize in 2021 in recognition of his scholarship on international and comparative criminal justice, and was a member of the Sentencing Council for England and Wales from 2008 to 2018. Currently Executive Director of the British Sentencing Academy, a London-based academy that brings together academics and practitioners to promote greater public understanding of sentencing in England and Wales. Professor Julian Robert is the author of eight published books, the most recent of which is Paying for the Past, published by Oxford University Press in 2019, co-authored with Richard Frase). He has also edited or co-edited 19 scholarly books, the most recent of which is Sentencing and Arificial Intelligence, published by Oxford University Press in 2022.

The course begins with a brief overview of the UK's criminal justice dilemma, pointing out that there are five aspects of the problem: court delays and case backlogs, racial disparities in sentencing, plea bargaining, unfair sentencing, and lack of public confidence, and then elaborates on each of these. based on a comparative research perspective, Professor Julian Robert, in conjunction with the relevant systems of China, the United States, and Russia, provides in-depth explanations of the content, features, and effects of UK Professor Julian Robert, based on the comparative research perspective, combined with the relevant systems of China, the United States and Russia, explained in depth the content features and functions of the UK sentencing guidelines, as well as the legislation and sentencing rules of the United Kingdom, which explicitly provide for the implementation of sentencing concessions for defendants who plead guilty. This provides an important research idea and legislative improvement direction for further study of China's criminal justice resource allocation, plea bargaining, sentencing advice, judicial credibility and other systems.

The course lasted for nearly 2 hours and then Professor Julian Robert interacted with the students and teachers and patiently answered the questions raised by the students.

Professor Peng Haiqing, the lecturer of this course, expressed her heartfelt thanks to Professor Julian Robert for his wonderful lectures. She briefly reviewed the experience of her visit to Oxford ten years ago and the continuous academic cooperation with Oxford professors after her return to China, and invited Professor Julian Robert to visit the School of Law of Beijing Institute of Technology in the future, and looked forward to establishing a closer academic exchange and cooperation relationship with the School of Law of the University of Oxford.