Framing Imprisonment Studies in China: Ideology, Law and Politics

Abstract

In any justice system, decisions about the scope and punitive value of deprivation of liberty are intrinsically political, since the powers given to prisons to incarcerate individuals are directly linked to the power of the state and its institutions. Custodial punishment is justified as a way of protecting society from offenders, by isolating them from the community. In addition, in a number of modern systems of justice, the rehabilitation of offenders through labour or through education and training is also an acknowledged purpose of prison incarceration. Regardless of the political system in which prisons operate, the stated intentions of authorities ranging from protection to rehabilitation are communicated through certain discourses about punishment that relate to its intended societal good. Like other political systems, the Party-state in China sees it as its prerogative to define the scope and means for the effective realisation of its protective role over society, and to create sets of narratives about punishment to justify its choices. This means that institutions involved in the administration of justice negotiate their roles and responsibilities in the punishment arena around certain key concepts that rationalise political choices and, at least in theory, seek to circumscribe their roles and powers.