Digitalising violence: Decoding management in the rehabilitation of people who use drugs

Abstract

This article investigates how China's smart drug-control systems, an emerging representation of digital platforms designed for community-based drug rehabilitation, reproduce and amplify structural violence, imposing punishment under the guise of improving the effectiveness of rehabilitation. Drawing on observation and semi-structured interviews conducted in three mainland Chinese cities, we identify three forms of violence embedded in the digital rehabilitation: labelling violence, which reduces complex individuals to algorithmically produced risk scores; silent violence, which recodes emotional withdrawal or digital non-participation as non-compliance; and classification violence, which repurposes recovery as a tool for state-led stability maintenance. These findings advance critical criminology and digital governance studies by demonstrating how digital technologies, overclaiming the balance of rehabilitation rationality and administrative efficiency, transform rehabilitative care into a mechanism of biopolitical control. Ultimately, we argue that digitalisation in rehabilitation does not necessarily signify progress or inclusion; rather, it often obscures and intensifies inequalities in new, technocratic forms. Research and policy implications of this study are also addressed.