Risk, Risk Assessment, and Community Corrections in China

Abstract

Although risk in the criminal justice field has been subject to intensive international debate, it has not incorporated China and its growing field of community corrections. This article assesses the current initiative of developing actuarial assessment tools in China and contrasts this with its use in the correctional context. There is certainly a rift in the understanding of risk, particularly, between the risk factors in Western risk assessment tools, the political construction of risk, and the local practitioners’ embrace of correctional work. However, this article suggests that under the current mode of risk governance in China, actuarial assessment tools promoted in the correctional field simply add another layer of social control. The article highlights the importance of political and social rationalities and environments behind the construction of risk.