Spencer D. LiUniversity of Macau

Community Corrections in China

Objectives1. Overview of the community-based correctional initiative in China

2. Review of its development and challenges

A Correctional System in Need of Reform

• Major problems in the correctional system at the turn of the century

• 1.5 million inmates in jails and prisons• 16% over capacity• Operating costs totaled nearly RMB 20 billion

annually• No evidence that the system had been effective

in reducing recidivism and promoting offender rehabilitation

The Calls for Change

• The need of the government to reduce prison overcrowding and high cost of imprisonment

• The concern about high recidivism, especially in the area of drug treatment

• The influence of research on evidence-based corrections from abroad

• The demand of making the system “kinder” and “humanitarian”

The Initiative

• Experiments started in two municipal CJ systems

• The central government sponsored pilot programs in 2003

• The National People’s Congress amended the criminal law officially recognizing community-based corrections in 2011

• The government set policies and legal requirements of community-based corrections in 2012

The Development

• In March 2011, over 65% of the local jurisdictions had community-based correctional programs

• They supervised a total of 659,000 convicted offenders

• Successes in some areas– Zhejiang Provinces placed 130,000 convicted

offenders in the system from 2004 to 2012. About 90,000 (69%) of them successfully completed their terms in the community settings

Problems and Challenges

• Ambivalent legal requirements• Insufficient funding• Inexperienced and poorly trained staff• Low accountability - lack of research and

evaluation

Thank You!

Contact:

Spencer D. LiDepartment of SociologyUniversity of MacauAvenida Padre Tomás PereiraTaipa, Macau, China

Tel: (853) 8397 8836Fax: (853) 2883 8312

Email: spencerli@umac.mo