The lifelong responsibility that the police, prosecutors and judges will now have to bear for the cases they handle marks a positive and much-needed step toward a fair judicial system and will help prevent miscarriages of justice.

The Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, which oversees law enforcement, issued a guideline on Tuesday, stipulating that law enforcement personnel will have lifelong responsibilities for their roles in judgments that turn out to be wrong. This is the first time this onus has been put on law enforcers.

The guideline reiterated compliance with the principle of being innocent until proven guilty, due procedure for evidence collection and the establishment of an accountability mechanism for misjudgments.