![handle is hein.journals/crmlsc64 and id is 1 raw text is: Crime Law Soc Change (2015) 64:1-22 CrossMark
DOI 10.1007/s10611-015-9574-6
China's community corrections: an actuarial
model of punishment
Enshen Li'
Published online: 20 August 2015
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
Abstract This article examines the emergence and configuration of community cor-
rections in China. It argues that the adoption of this new sanction is a result of China's
recent rhetorical shift in penality from harshness and punishment towards leniency and
rehabilitation. Nevertheless, based on a study of community corrections in Shanghai,
the practice of this sanction manifests strong evidence of actuarial justice in its form
and function. The findings from this study show that community corrections are used in
practice as a managerial tool to identify, classify and regulate offenders to control
dangerousness they may present, and to facilitate the implementation of correctional
programs. This actuarial model of practice is represented by the risk-driven, differen-
tiated approaches in the exercise of community corrections and the cost-saving aim of
handling offenders in the neighbourhood.
Introduction
Since the 2000s, China has progressively shifted its deep-seated penal philosophy from
harshness to moderation in the context of building a 'rule-of-law and harmonious
society' [1]. Penal severity has decreased in the form of increasingly implementing
sanctions that aim at the rehabilitative ideal. Community corrections are one such
reform. Introduced in 2003, China's community corrections operate as a non-
custodial criminal penalty, targeting criminal offenders whose crimes are minor with
minimal social harm, and those who have 'repented' after incarceration and displayed
no further intention to harm society [2]. It was first adopted in 2003 as a pilot project in
six modern prefectures (e.g., Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and
Shandong), and soon expanded nationwide, covering all 31 provinces and municipal-
ities in 2009 [3]. This penal measure is expected to play a more important role in
China's future approach to punishment as the Government recently proposed to
W Enshen Li
e.li@law.uq.edu.au
TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
4L Springer](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/crmlsc64&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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