Towards the Lenient Justice? A Rise of ‘Harmonious’ Penality in Contemporary China

Abstract

Punishment in China has long been considered to be punitive; however, changes in Chinese criminal justice and penal policy since the early 2000s may reflect a move towards leniency. This is perhaps most evident in a new criminal justice policy of ‘Balancing Leniency and Harshness’ in the context of building a ‘socialist harmonious society’. This paper discusses the recent shifts in policy and practice in China’s minor case disposition system over the last decade. It focuses on de-criminalization and de-incarceration—the criminal justice strategies that state agencies have adopted to deal with minor offenders—to explain why and how a more lenient approach has arisen in the contemporary era and offers a critical examination of these two penal perspectives