The Handbook comprises 25 chapters divided into five main sections: Historical themes; Criminal justice system issues; Methods of inquiry; Forms of crime and criminality; and Greater China: Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. As one would expect with a work of this type, the editors chose to explore a wide range of topics rather than engage in a more detailed examination of a narrower range. It provides both an excellent overview of the field of criminology in China and a useful resource for those interested in obtaining an overview in specific areas. I have two quibbles. The first is that the usefulness of the Handbook as a research resource is hindered by the lack of a consolidated list of references. The second is that the mode of citing Chinese authors by surname coupled with initials rather than setting out their names in full makes it difficult to identify the people to whose work reference is being made.
The task the editors have set themselves is to describe the field of criminology and the methods of criminological research in China and in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau (what the editors call Greater China) and to introduce elements of comparison into that study. They write that the Handbook seeks to balance approaches that emphasize the applicability and generalizability of Western criminological concepts with those focusing on what is particular to the Chinese context (p. 343). In general, the chapters avoid arguments from Chinese exceptionalism. Borge Bakken (chapter four) reminds us of the role of politics, policy and institutions in setting levels of harshness and mercy in China's punishment regime. He warns against attributing an overly relativistic interpretation to the link between culture and punitive sentiments (p. 39). Section three, which deals with methodological issues, is one area where the editors' objective of identifying commensurability with international norms as well as pointing out characteristics that are particularly Chinese is well achieved. Phil He's chapter, “The politics of numbers: crime statistics in China,” provides an interesting and critical account of the foibles of the preparation and use of crime statistics in China. The normative and empirical considerations discussed in that chapter are raised again and developed in other chapters (for example Hebenton and Susyan Jou, chapter 20).
The chapters on Greater China add to the breadth of the Handbook and provide the groundwork for comparative insights, mostly between the jurisdictions examined in the Handbook. For example, discussion of the extensive programmes for preventing and addressing juvenile offending in Hong Kong (Yuet-Wah Cheung and Hua Zhong, chapter 23) and Macau (Ruohui Zhao, chapter 25) contrast noticeably with the lack of progress in separating the treatment of adult and juvenile offenders in China (discussed in Guoling Zhao, chapter nine). Harm-reduction approaches to policing and punishment of drug users in Taiwan (Lan-Ying Huang and Sun, chapter 21) and Hong Kong (Cheung and Zhong, chapter 23) can be contrasted with more punitive approaches to drug use in China (Lening Liang, chapter 15). Similarly, the discussions of the success of ICAC in tackling official corruption and official links to triad-related crime in Hong Kong (Sharon Kwok and T. Wing Lo, chapter 22; Cheung and Zhong, chapter 23) provide interesting parallels and contrasts with approaches to dealing with official corruption in China.
An interesting thread, suggesting both commonality and contrast, develops across a number of chapters that examine community-oriented policing, diversion programmes and restorative-justice approaches to minor offending and social control. Descriptions of such policies and programmes in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are immediately recognizable to Western audiences. By contrast, Shanhe Jiang emphasizes the distinct Chinese characteristics of China's informal and semi-formal institutional structures for social order and crime control (chapter three). It is notable how perceptions of the dysfunction in the Chinese judicial system marked by the strong emphasis on informal dispute settlement can act as a negative model for nearby jurisdictions. Cheung and Zhong point out that judges in Hong Kong's juvenile courts have been unwilling to embrace less legalistic treatment or rehabilitation programmes for juvenile offenders because of fear of what they call “mainlandisation” (p. 299). That is, that the rule of law will be undermined if judges embrace informal approaches to juvenile offending. Yuning Wu (chapter ten) focuses on mediation as a civil dispute resolution mechanism in China. The collection does not include a discussion of criminal mediation (xingshi hejie), which was formalized in the 2012 amendments to the PRC Criminal Procedure Law. Such a discussion might also have enabled parallels and contrasts to be drawn with the use of mediation as an alternative to criminal procedures in Taiwan (discussed in Huang and Sun, chapter 21).
The chapters of the Handbook differ in their respective emphases upon describing their particular area, advancing the author's own arguments about that area, and reviewing the literature in that area. Section two on criminal justice system issues contains a number of chapters that provide useful and comprehensive overviews of: the legal system (Margaret Lewis, chapter five); police system (Yue Ma, chapter six); criminal justice system (Mike McConville and Fu Xin, chapter eight); and the death penalty (Natalie Martinez, Thomas Vertinho and Hong Lu, chapter 11). Fu Hualing's chapter, “Autonomy, courts and the politico-legal order in contemporary China,” provides an insightful account of the role of the Communist Party's political-legal committee in the administration of justice. The chapters in section four on forms of crime and criminality likewise reflect some of the most intractable problems of crime in China today including: white collar and corporate crime broadly defined (Hongming Cheng and David O. Frederichs, chapter 19); the particularly difficult problem of crime by and against migrant workers (Jianhua Xu, chapter 17); domestic violence against women, the elderly and children (Hongwei Zhang, chapter 18); and drug related crime (Bin Liang, chapter 15). The chapter on prostitution and human trafficking (Tiantian Zheng, chapter 16) adopts the contentious position that prostitution constitutes a form of trafficking. Such a position does not fully engage with the extensive Chinese and foreign literature on sex work in China and modes of policing it.
This book provides a very useful reference for those interested in comparative criminology and in particular issues in the field of criminology in Greater China. It is a timely contribution to this important field.
