NCJ Number
247780
Journal
International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice Volume: 38 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2014 Pages: 63-81
Date Published
February 2014
Length
19 pages
Annotation
Since Deng Xiaoping introduced a market economy in the mid-1970s, China has achieved great progress and its citizens have greater incomes.
Abstract
Since Deng Xiaoping introduced a market economy in the mid-1970s, China has achieved great progress and its citizens have greater incomes. Yet, current research documents an increase in organized crime and corruption in China. The focus of this research is on the use of the "strike hard" crime campaigns (yanda and da hei in Mandarin) against organized criminals and economic corruption in China. Crime control campaigns are ongoing and are widely criticized for abuses of power. One of the most frequently mentioned examples of the official abuse of authority is the da hei (strike black) campaign, instigated by former Chongqing mayor and prominent politician Bo Xilai. In 2012, Bo Xilai was detained in a political scandal that continues to engulf Chinese politics. This article discusses whether increasing crime and corruption, growing prosperity, internal migration of rural migrants, and modernization can be viewed as factors that support the use of crime control campaigns. The Chinese view disorder as a threat to stability. This article examines how yanda or strike hard campaigns are used as China contends with threats to its social order. Abstract published by arrangement with Taylor Francis.