NCJ Number
186624
Journal
Justice Report Volume: 15 Issue: 3 Dated: 2000 Pages: 18-20
Editor(s)
Gaston St-Jean
Date Published
2000
Length
3 pages
Annotation
A Canadian professor went to China in January 1990 under an academic exchange agreement and, during the course of his visit, lectured on scientific issues criminal law and in the process learned about Chinese laws and the correctional system.
Abstract
Upon his arrival, he found most principles of justice were restored since the cultural revolution. Penal colonies had been abolished, but imprisonment and the death penalty for serious crimes remained. Alternatives to imprisonment, especially various forms of exclusion and shaming, were widely used but only if mediation between the offender and the victim, or other parties to the conflict, failed after repeated attempts. Interviews with inmates of Chinese correctional facilities indicated the inmates received some formal education and vocational training. Correctional options used in China are discussed in the context of the country's totalitarian political system.