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64 Crime L. & Soc. Change 1 (2015)

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