  a show trial is a public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. the actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as an impressive example and as a warning to other would-be dissidents or transgressors. show trials tend to be retributive rather than correctional justice and also conducted for propagandistic purposes. the term was first recorded in the 1930s.oed (2014): "show trial". == china ==  following the formation of the people's republic of china in 1949, the communist party of china under mao zedong began a massive socioeconomic and political campaign called the great leap forward, which lasted circa 1958â1961. during this time, many thousands of people classified as elements of the bourgeois like wealthy landlords were rounded up, given show trials, with some receiving executions. between 1 and 2 million landlords were executed as "counterrevolutionaries" in communist china.busky, donald f. (2002). communism in history and theory. greenwood publishing group. p.11. after the tiananmen square protests of 1989, show trials were given to "rioters and counter-revolutionaries" involved in the protests and subsequent military massacre.show trials in china: after tiananmen square, mark findlay, journal of law and society, vol. 16, no. 3 (autumn, 1989), pp. 352-359. published by wiley-blackwell chinese writer and dissident ma jian argued that gu kailai, the wife of purged communist chinese leader bo xilai, was given a show trial in 2012.chinaâs show trial of the century, ma jian, project syndicate, 2012-08-20 == japan ==  1600â1868: the tokugawa government cracked down on japanese christians via methods such as fumi-e (picture stepping). widely used to maintain religious homogeneity, the fumi-e trials were quite like salem witch trials. in the fumi-e "trial", if you were unable to step on a wooden plank which had a picture of jesus on it, you were labeled christian and summarily executed. in or
Abuse_of_the_legal_system Informal_legal_terms Propaganda_techniques Trials_of_political_people Types_of_trials