Juvenile Community Corrections in China: the Quest for a Restorative Approach

Community-based treatment has long been a major component of the criminal justice system in most Western jurisdictions; however, this is not the case in China. Based on a review of academic journal articles and legal documents, this paper highlights the evolution of community correction programs for juvenile offenders in China. Reflecting on its development over the past two decades, the existing community correction programs in China are not restorative in facilitating an offender’s effective reintegration into the community. This paper aims to address the existing gap by examining the historical roots and characteristics of Chinese juvenile community corrections and analyzing how restorative justice can be incorporated into the youth rehabilitation system. In this regard, this paper advocates for a restorative juvenile community correction model that motivates social capital and actively engages all concerned parties in meeting various correctional goals of victim reparation, accountability taking, capacity building, and maintaining community safety. With the momentum of the recent criminal justice reform alongside the continued open-door policy in China, it is hoped that the Chinese government may be more willing to include restorative ideas for offender reintegration in the future. With more frequent applications of restorative justice, we are confident that effective intervention models could be put into practice in the years to come.