Almost every day China's state broadcaster CCTV shows interviews with suspects confessing to crimes, often before they have appeared in court.
"There are too many possibilities that may lead suspects to plead guilty against their will or say something contrary to the facts," Zhu Zhengfu, deputy chairman of the All-China Lawyers Association, told the Beijing News.
"Before a judgement by the court, we should stop society from treating them as criminals."
Recent examples of televised confessions include Swedish rights worker Peter Dahlin, who apologised to China for allegedly training human rights lawyers, which officials said had "threatened state security".
He and several of his colleagues also made confessions in interviews broadcast on Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV.
The genre often involves low-level criminals from across China seen in prison vests admitting to a wide range of offences.
Overseas rights groups have condemned the practice and say the interviews may be carried out under duress.
Zhu is also a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a discussion body that is part of the Communist Party-controlled governmental structure, which opened its annual session on Thursday.
"Having suspects confess on TV programs may help law enforcement officers build their case," it said. "But it is against the jurisprudential principle of assumption of innocence.