More deadbeats forced to pay up (2)

The public notices can help the courts find former defendants who might be hiding money from the authorities. "If we find evidence that these people are still living in a way that shows they can actually pay the compensation they owe, we can charge them with refusing to comply with a court order, which can be punished with 15 days in jail," Zhang said.

In the campaign's first year, the courts detained 18 deadbeat defendants for refusing to comply with court rulings.

Zhang did not reveal the total number of deadbeat defendants in the city or how much money they owed. As of April, they had identified 12,006 people who had refused to pay court-ordered compensation.

Shanghai Higher People's Court has also stopped 1,164 people from leaving the country so they can't avoid paying what they owe, the news report said.

China lacks a comprehensive consumer credit tracking system, which would help prevent people from shirking their debts, said Gao Ming, a lawyer from Shanghai Wanfang Law Firm.

"Because it will take time to set up a credit system, local courts need to impose tougher sentences on these deadbeat defendants to protect their authority," Gao told the Global Times.