In the old days, a well-organised society, in the form of Danwei, had no need for a formal criminal justice system (Rojek 2001). Today, the Chinese criminal justice system faces many serious challenges and various complex and unstable situations. Emphasis on economic growth has increased mobility and produced a
floating population, which in turn is changing the traditional Chinese household registration system. The increased use of personal ID cards and residential permits has made it impossible to have a fully registered population (Potter 1994). The residential environment has also changed as more smaller-household Chinese families live in the new multistorey apartment complexes. Higher mobility and apartment living have produced greater anonymity and privacy but less natural surveillance (Lu & Miethe 2001).
Embrace of a market economy encourages individual wealth. Chinese people now put more focus on financial profits and economic gains (Lu & Miethe 2001). The gap between rich and poor has widened and economic inequality is felt by many Chinese people; today, one-third of the Chinese population live in poverty (Tan 1999). There have been enormous increases in crime, more than 20 per cent annually (Curran 1998). Profit-motivated crimes such as robbery, theft, and counterfeiting have skyrocketed (Press of Law Yearbook of China 1998). Some old problems are also creeping back to Chinese society in the form of criminal gangs, organised crime, drug trafficking, prostitution, illegal gambling, and the black economy.
Due to China’s rapid economic development, government corruption has also become common (Rojek 2001), creating great distrust among the public and threatening the political base of the communist government.
A substantial portion of juvenile delinquency has been committed by children born under China’s mandatory one-child policy implemented since 1976. Lacking sisters and brothers, these children often receive excessive attention from at least four adults – parents and grandparents – so tend to grow up self-centred and selfish, with a value system opposite to that advocated by traditional Chinese ethicists.
In their teenage years they therefore present a serious challenge to China’s law enforcement agencies.
Economic and demographic changes have also brought about more cultural and political changes. Chinese people have become more individualistic, the government more transparent, and the media more open.
These changes should be positive for the country in the long run, but in the short term they have created instability and uncertainty for China’s social control system. Many urban neighbourhood communities are experiencing community disintegration, with less frequent interactions between neighbours and reduced participation in community affairs by residents (Lu 2001). Fewer people make use of neighbourhood mediation committees as they rely more on formal litigation in the courts to resolve their financial disputes (Rojek 2001). Community crime prevention programmes in some sectors have become less effective due to the lack of powerful organisations and insufficient financial support (Xu 1996). To a certain extent these developments reflect the erosion of the collective spirit and lack of voluntary participation in community policing in contemporary Chinese society.
Facing these changes and challenges, the Chinese criminal justice system has adopted a campaign-style anti-crime strategy with programmes such as ‘Severe Strike’, ‘Hard Attack’, and ‘Crack Down’. The purpose of this strategy is to control the rising crime trend and fend off public outcry. It is based on the belief that swifter and more certain and severe punishment will deter crime and lower the crime rate. More police officers are put on patrol, more police raids are conducted, more criminal cases are expeditiously processed, and more punitive judicial measures are being used. This approach has obviously deviated from the integrated social control model and the highly publicised comprehensive strategy of social order (Feng 2001), as the crackdown aspect of the comprehensive strategy becomes more prominent and crime prevention less so.
The urgent demand to stem the rising tide of crime has forced the formal social control system to develop quick-fix programmes and produce fast results. But a long-term solution to crime and related social problems certainly cannot be expected with such campaign-style policing. China’s criminal justice system and community crime prevention should continue to follow the integrated social control model. While remaining committed to developing their culture of professionalism, legalism and service to the public, the police should continue to emphasise their traditional philosophy of policing a communitarian society. The formal criminal justice system should continue to rely on Chinese people’s psychological and emotional ties to the family, the work group and the society to achieve long and lasting safety and security in Chinese society.
Some research evidence suggests that even though China has entered a new economic and political era, the integrated model of social control is still attainable. Chinese residents tend to perceive informal control mechanisms as more effective. Despite the legalisation, professionalisation and formalisation movement in policing and the criminal justice system in China (Lu & Miethe 2001), informal social control continues to assume its traditional roles in local arenas such as mediation, order maintenance and welfare services (Dutton 1992). What is probably the case is that there has been more window dressing and rhetoric to placate the public than substantive changes in the formal system. Interviews with Chinese police officials also indicate that they continue to embrace traditional crime prevention activities as an effective means of crime control.
They view severe punishment and stern crackdowns as unusual measures under unusual circumstances and see traditional crime prevention as a more viable long-term strategy.
In conclusion, China will continue to experience social instability because of the rapid changes in its economic, political, and legal systems. The social control system will continue to face various and complex challenges during this historical period of social transition. But China should not lose sight of the importance of maintaining a strong integrated social control system consistent with both its traditional moral values and the need to modernise its criminal justice system. In the transition to a more stable economic and political system, the Chinese criminal justice system should be committed to the rule of law, to moral governance, and to a clean government free of corruption. The rising crime problems will challenge the social control system and force it to deviate occasionally from the integrated model. But the long-term stability of Chinese society demands that the integrated model be used and followed as the guiding principle for social control practices in China.
References
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