Excessive Formalism and Obsessive Security: The Organizational Logic of the Rehabilitation Disjuncture in Chinese Community Corrections

Abstract

The recent establishment of Chinese community corrections (CCC) has drawn considerable attention to the question of why offender rehabilitation remains unfulfilled in China, a phenomenon known as the “rehabilitation disjuncture.” Yet, the peculiar organizational logic of the CCC, which structures offender-officer relations and frames their interactions, has received little explicit attention regarding its relationship to the rehabilitation gap. Drawing on ethnographic data from Chinese urban community corrections settings, the study examines the organizational structure, culture, and processes that cause the operation of CCC to deviate from the rehabilitation ideal. The analysis reveals that excessive formalism, an obsession with security, and narcissistic image-building permeate the daily rehabilitation work of correctional teams, collectively undermining the institutional commitment to benevolent care and thus compromising offender well-being. The article concludes with the argument that to truly achieve the welfarist goal, the organizational processes that underpin the practical implementation of offender rehabilitation cannot be neglected.