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26 J. Contemp. Crim. Just. 4 (2010)

handle is hein.journals/jccj26 and id is 1 raw text is: journal of Contemporary Criminal justice 26(1)4-6 Editors' Introduction @ 20 10 SAGE Publications Reprints and permission: http://www. sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1 177/1043986209350166 http://ccj.sagepub.com @SAGE A social science discipline for the study of crime and criminal justice has emerged in China over last several decades. This conceptual framework did not fully exist in China prior to its 1978 economic reforms, but it was initially fueled in this era by Western scholars who wrote about Chinese law, crime, and social control (Bakken, 2005; Dutton, 1992; Troyer, Clark, & Rojek, 1989; Whyte & Parish, 1984). Subsequent developments involved Chinese scholars who were mainly trained in Western sociology/criminology and published in English outlets (Liang, 2008; Liu, Zhang, & Messner, 2001, 2007; Lu & Miethe, 2007; Lu, Miethe, & Liang, 2009). Within the past decade, criminological research using the theories and methods of Western social science has also appeared in major Chinese academic outlets. The authors of this research have been trained both in the West (Su, 2000) and in China (Xie, 2009; Zhao, 2007). The fast development of criminology as a social science discipline is also revealed by the increasing number of issues of academic journals devoted to criminology/ criminal justice in contemporary China. This special issue for the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice is another example of the growing interests in studying various aspects of crime and criminal justice in China from a social science perspective. It is designed to provide readers with a basic understanding of China's historical development and its current state of criminological research and practice. The first article by Hebenton and Jou provides an overview of the development of China's criminology over three historical periods (1880 to 1949, 1949-1989, and 1990 and beyond). These authors argue that Chinese criminology has been based primarily on a model of legal science. They contend that the lack of comparative and sociological perspective of criminology in China is due to the limited development of positivistic, empirical methodology in this country and the lack of development in Chinese social science in general. The articles by Sun and Wu, Li and Ma, and Shaw cover the structure, operation, and characteristics of major criminal justice agencies, including the police, courts, and corrections. Changes in the nature of police and police practices are examined by Sun and Wu over the 1978-2008 time period. The article by Li and Ma examines the spe- cific question of recent legal reforms particularly with regard to the judiciary (i.e., issues such as confessions, self-incrimination, legal representation, pretrial detention, and evidence admissibility). The work by Shaw explores the structure, process, and criticism of corrections and punishment in China's reform era. All of these articles identify the causal significance of the economic reforms since the late 1970s and the subsequent legal reforms and their impact on the structural and cultural changes of these organizations.

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