Governance, Social Control and Legal Reform in China

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Qi Chen

   Pages 1-21

3. Liberal Governance, Social Control and CSM

   • Qi Chen

   Pages 23-58

4. Disciplinary Governance and Social Control in China

   • Qi Chen

   Pages 59-95

5. The Imposition of CSM in China

   • Qi Chen

   Pages 97-133

6. The Implementation of CSM in China

   • Qi Chen

   Pages 135-208

7. Reshaping Disciplinary Governance Through Legal Reform: Lessons from CSM and Beyond

   • Qi Chen

   Pages 209-232

8. Back Matter

   Pages 233-269

   PDF

This book outlines how community sentences and early release options are administered in China. Chen provides empirical insights into the emerging community sector of the Chinese penal system, and illustrates how Chinese criminal courts decide between imprisonment and community sentences. Drawing on interviews with government and non-governmental supervisors, this methodological and rigorous study offers an in-depth discussion of the enforcement of these community sanctions and measures (CSM).
 
By using the CSM reform as an example, this book illustrates the adaptation of Chinese governance and social control. Ultimately, Chen argues that the current model of governance in China (disciplinary governance) cannot guarantee an effective state-agent relationship; it also denies local governments sufficient legitimacy to secure social stability. Finally, proposing that only the rule of law and an active judiciary can complement these two deficiencies, this book will be of great interest to scholars of criminology, law, and penology, as well as anyone who is interested in how China is held together in a socio-legal sense.

• Criminology
• Criminal Justice
• Penology
• Comparative criminology
• China
• Asia
• Judges
• Sentencing
• Socio-legal studies
• community sector
• imprisonment
• community sentences
• disciplinary governance
• state-agent relationship
• social stability
• rule of law
• judiciary

“In this important book, Qi Chen examines the impact of Western-inspired legal reform on China’s complex legal system where control is much stronger than governance. The issues are addressed through a study of the reform of Chinese community sanctions and measures (CSM). Underpinning this thoughtful account – which engages with difficult theoretical issues in a reflective and perceptive way – is a careful and insightful empirical study undertaken with care and sensitivity. This much needed, historically-grounded and extremely well-written account is guaranteed to be of great value to all those interested in the struggles of a complex and important legal system.” (Mike McConville, Founding Dean and Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Honorary Professor at the School of Law of the University of Nottingham, UK)

“According to this valuable empirical study of the workings of criminal justice in China, the current model of governance excessivelyrelies on social control to suppress conflicts and facilitate forced cooperation. But it is significantly inadequate at resolving conflicts and achieving willing collaboration. Based on interviews with practitioners in two settings in China, this book examines how much progress has been made by recent reforms of what they call ‘community measures’.” (David Nelken, Professor of Comparative & Transnational Law in Context, Kings College London, UK)

“Chen provides a frank, robust, and critical analysis of the development of community sanctions and measures in China, and what their development tells us about the relationship between criminal punishment and social control more generally. I can see the book being of equal benefit to a Chinese or Western scholar, and some of its most profound insights cut across national and continental boundaries. Chen's argument is a reminder of Foucault's maxim, that power is dynamic, relational, and constituted from below, and her account of Chinese non-custodial governance reminds us that governmentality does not just exist in the minds of governing élites. Her empirical account of the Chinese system's implementation is politically, socially, and culturally astute, and rich in qualitative detail. I found it an informative, fascinating, and accessible account of policy transfer, penal development, and the challenges of effective, fair, and humane social control in a modern global context.” (David Hayes, Lecturer in Law at the University of Sheffield, UK)

• University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom

  Qi Chen

Qi Chen is Lecturer in Law and Criminology at the University of Hertfordshire, UK.

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