The politics of rehabilitation within Chinese community corrections
February 23rd, 2026
We would like to highlight the English-language article “The politics of rehabilitation within Chinese community corrections: The rise of an enabling and embedded state in a rapidly modernizing society”, written by Kai Kuang, Jize Jiang, and Yuchen Meng and published in Punishment & Society (Vol. 28, Issue 1).
Based on ethnographic research conducted in two major Chinese cities, the study examines the operation of Chinese Community Corrections (CCC) as a non-custodial penal institution, highlighting transformations in the punitive power of the Chinese state in the context of social modernization. The authors show how the promotion of rehabilitation is accompanied by a dual configuration of state power: on the one hand, an “enabling” state that mobilizes communities, professionals, and social resources to support offenders’ reintegration; on the other hand, an “embedded” state that maintains tight political and ideological control over rehabilitative processes.
The article can be accessed at the following link.