Restorative Justice in China: Comparing Theory and Practice

220 Pages·2017·3.26 MB·English

by  Xiaoyu Yuan (auth.)

Springer Series on
Asian Criminology and Criminal Justice Research
Xiaoyu Yuan
Restorative Justice
in China
Comparing Theory and Practice
Springer Series on Asian Criminology
and Criminal Justice Research
Series editor
Jianhong Liu
University of Macau
Macao, China
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15738
Xiaoyu Yuan
Restorative Justice in China
Comparing Theory and Practice
Xiaoyu Yuan
School of Criminal Justice
Shanghai University of Political Science and Law
Shanghai, China
Springer Series on Asian Criminology and Criminal Justice Research
ISBN 978-3-319-63921-5 ISBN 978-3-319-63922-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-63922-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017952374
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017
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To my grandfather
Acknowledgments
This book is based on my PhD thesis conducted at the Leuven Institute of
Criminology, KU Leuven, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ivo Aertsen. I owe a
huge debt of gratitude to my supervisor. Without his great patience and tolerance,
without those years of support and guidance, this project would not be possible.
I would also like to thank cordially Professor Carine Defoort and Professor Ching
Lin Pang for the encouragement and attention throughout the project and all the con-
structive suggestions and comments. I also thank sincerely Professor Lode Walgrave
and Professor Michele Panzavolta for the helpful comments and suggestions. I am
deeply grateful to Professor Jianhong Liu from University of Macau, whose pro-
found insight has been a continual source of inspiration. I am indebted to Professor
Xiaohua Di from Nanjing University for offering opportunities, discussion, and
support. My special thanks to Springer Series on Asian Criminology and Criminal
Justice Research for making this work accessible to a wider audience.
I am also indebted to those who have contributed to the successful completion of
the empirical phase of this project. My sincere thanks to Ms. Guan, Ms. Wang, and
Mr. Guo who are working at the China’s local justice department, as well as many
other research participants, whose names cannot be listed here, for their time, assis-
tance, and invaluable inputs.
I had a lovely and inspiring stay in Leuven because of the presence of a group of
lovely and kind colleagues and friends. In particular, I would like to thank Monica,
Monique, Loes, Edit, Inge, Katrien, Bruna, Daniela, Elli, Helene, and Huma for
offering encouragement and support and for sharing ideas and conversations. My
Chinese companions, Yingying, Qiao, and a few others have also filled my spare
time with lots of laughter and fun.
I also thank the China Scholarship Council for financing my doctoral project.
Last but not least, I would like to appreciate the understanding and support from
my family. I thank my parents, Daolin Yuan and Yunxiang Wang, and my brother
Hengxin Yuan for letting me go for what I want. I also thank Dr. Shiqiang Du, a geog-
rapher, for, while teasing my lack of sense of direction, mapping out accurately our
path from Leuven to Shanghai.
vii
Contents
Part I Introducing the Topic
1 Introducing the Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1 Who Is Qiuju? Old Wine in New Wineskins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Research Background: Restorative Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3 U nderstanding of Restorative Justice in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1 “Chinese Practice” and “Chinese Context” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2 Does Restorative Justice Fit Chinese Realities? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4 Clarifying Mediation Under Examination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5 R esearch Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6 R esearch Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7 R esearch Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 Conflict Resolution in China: Cultural Then Political? . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1 A Glimpse of Traditional Chinese Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.1 Harmony Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.2 Shame Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.3 Interdependent and Communitarian Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2 T raditional Dispute Settlement in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3 Traditional Chinese Mediation and Western Restorative Justice:
Convergences and Divergences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.1 Defining Harm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.2 Defining the “Victim” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4 Mediation in the Republic of China (1912–1949) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5 Mediation in the People’s Republic of China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.1 Early Period of the Socialist Regime (1949–1978) . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.2 Conflict Resolution After the 1978 Opening Up and Reform . . . . 32
6 “The End” After the End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
ix
x Contents
3 Criminal Mediation in the Chinese Criminal Justice Context . . . . . . . 41
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2 Modern Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law in China . . . . . . . 41
3 T he Place of Mediation in Criminal Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4 Criminal Mediation in Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.1 An Edited Book on the Theory and Practice
of Xingshi Hejie in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.2 Professor Song Yinghui’s Empirical Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.3 Pitfalls, Concerns, and Critiques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.4 Gaps and Topics for Further Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5 C onclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Part II Discovering Realities: A Naturalistic Qualitative Inquiry
4 Discovering Realities: A Naturalistic Qualitative Inquiry . . . . . . . . . . 55
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2 Existing Fieldwork of Criminology in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3 A Naturalistic Qualitative Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4 Accessing Institutions, Documents, and People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.1 Entrée . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.2 Ongoing Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.3 Relationship or Connection: Quanxi and Renqing . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5 The Identity of the Researcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.1 The Researcher: Chinese or a Foreigner? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.2 An Insider or an Outsider? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.3 Researcher’s Bias: Knowing and Coping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6 Doing Research: Dialogue and Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
7 Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
8 Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
8.1 Interviewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
8.2 Observing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
8.3 Between Interviewing and Observing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
8.4 Diaries and Field Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
8.5 Case File Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
9 Research Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
9.1 The Issue of Informed Consent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
9.2 The Issue of Confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
9.3 “No Harm” and Responsibility: The Relationship
Between the Researcher and Respondents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
9.4 A Note on the Representativeness
and Trustworthiness of the Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
10 D ata Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
10.1 Working with NVivo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
10.2 Coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
10.3 Constant Comparison and Writing Memos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Contents xi
Part III Empirical Findings
5 Case Summary and Description-Based Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
1 Case Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
1.1 Type of Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
1.2 Adult and Juvenile Offending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
1.3 Success Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
1.4 Participants and Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
1.5 The Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
1.6 Note on the Extent of Information for Each Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
2 S tarting from a Local Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
2.1 A Description of the Daily Work of the State Apparatuses
and the Job of Mediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
2.2 A Presentation of the Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6 Thematic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
2 I nitiating the Mediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
3 O bservation of the Encounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
3.1 Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
3.2 Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
3.3 Victims’ Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
3.4 Compromise Expected from the Victim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
3.5 The Importance of Shouren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
3.6 Persuasion Leading to Harmony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
4 Outcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.1 Reintegration of the Offender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.2 Benefits for the Justice System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
4.3 Restoring Victims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
7 What Is the Harmony Approach? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
1.1 Harm Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
1.2 Repairing Social Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
2 A Harmony Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
2.1 Not About Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
2.2 Not Just About Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
2.3 Compromise and Harmony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
3 A n Authoritarian Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4 H armony: Reconciliation in a Broad Sense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5 A “Harsh” Harmony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
xii Contents
Part IV Doing “Restorative” Justice: China and the West
8 Restorative Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
1 Introduction: Restorative Justice – A Movement
Within the Criminal Justice System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
2 T wo Origins of the Western Restorative Justice Movement . . . . . . . . . 142
3 Defining Restorative Justice: Various Attempts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
3.1 Scholarly Attempts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
3.2 Definitions in NGO Working Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
3.3 Definitions in International and Regional Instruments . . . . . . . . 147
3.4 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
4 Restorative Justice Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
4.1 Respect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
4.2 Inclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
4.3 Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
5 Restorative Justice Modalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
5.1 Victim-Offender Mediation (VOM) Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
5.2 Family Group Conferencing (FGC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
5.3 Peacemaking Circles (PMC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
9 R estorative Justice Practices: The Restoration Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
2 Restorative Justice Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
2.1 Case Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
2.2 Evidence-Based Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
2.3 A Process Approach to Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
3 R estoration Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
3.1 Voluntariness: What Is Required of Victims and Offenders . . . . . . .171
3.2 Neutrality: The Role of the Facilitator/Mediator . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
3.3 Empowerment: Promise to Victims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
3.4 Storytelling: What Is Supposed to Happen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
3.5 An Intermediate Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
4 A Maximalist or Minimalist Understanding of Restoration . . . . . . . . . 175
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
10 A Dialogue Between China and the West on Doing
Restorative Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
2 Does China Need the Restoration Model? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
3 Implementing the Restoration Model in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
3.1 Impartiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
3.2 Voluntariness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
3.3 Storytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
3.4 Empowerment or Power Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185