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1 – 10 of over 5000There is no comparative research into the Chinese (PSB) police and the Indian police generally and none on police corruption in particular. This paper aims to show what…
Abstract
Purpose
There is no comparative research into the Chinese (PSB) police and the Indian police generally and none on police corruption in particular. This paper aims to show what police corruption and malpractices look like in China and India and offer up some suggestions as to why wide spread malpractices persists.
Design/methodology/approach
Horses’ mouth qualitative research is supported by primary public and police survey data.
Findings
There are many similarities in corruption “tricks of the trade” in both the countries, as well as in the reasons for its persistence. However, petty police corruption is more pervasive and less subtle in India. But both the forces suffer from politicization of policing, criminalization of politics, culture of tolerance towards substantive justice over procedural justice and master/servant attitude towards the public. In China, the police have administrative powers beyond criminal legislation, and Indian corruption is underscored by the culture of “Jugaad”.
Research limitations/implications
This is largely a qualitative research, so the usual arguments regarding limitations on its generalization applies. However, the insights in this article may provide some understanding of this under-researched topic and may stimulate further research in this field. It may also offer pointers to potential solutions for practitioners and policymakers.
Practical implications
By providing data on what corruption looks like and why it persists, policymakers can use the findings of this study to develop measures to address them. In so doing they would create a police service in India and China that is less prone to corruption and misconduct, thereby increasing public trust in these institutions.
Social implications
Peace and security is a prerequisite condition for economic and social modernization through the rule of law. Reform of the police is a critical success factor in this process. Therefore, by reforming the police, India and China stand a better chance of eradicating poverty and reducing inequality.
Originality/value
There is little in the way of research into the Chinese Police and none into Chinese police corruption. There is also no comparative study of the Chinese and Indian police generally and none on police corruption in particular.
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Ziqiang Han, Ivan Y. Sun and Rong Hu
The purpose of this paper is to assess the influences of social trust and neighborhood cohesion on public trust in the police in China.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the influences of social trust and neighborhood cohesion on public trust in the police in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used survey data collected from roughly 5,600 respondents by the 2012 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). Multivariate regression was employed to analyze the effects of two forms of social trust, generalized trust and particularized trust, and three types of neighborhood cohesion, neighbor solidary, support and interaction, on public trust in the Chinese police, controlling for personal background characteristics.
Findings
Both generalized trust and particularized trust exerted a significant positive effect on trust in the Chinese police. Greater neighborhood cohesion also enhanced public trust in the police. Elderly, women, less educated and people with rural hukou and higher perceived social class were more likely to trust the police.
Research limitations/implications
The CGSS data contained only a single item that could be used to measure public trust in the police. Future studies should consider using multiple survey items to reflect Chinese people’s trust from different conceptual dimensions, such as procedural- and outcome-based trust and police legitimacy. The CGSS data also did not contain information on some relevant predictors, such as victimization and fear of crime, personal and vicarious contact experiences with the police, and news and social media usage and exposure. Future studies, if possible, should incorporate these theoretically relevant and empirically proven variables into the analysis.
Practical implications
Improving neighborhood cohesion is a clear path to cultivate stronger public trust in the police. Policy-makers and officials must bring the neighborhood-centered approach back to local governance by working closely with police leaders and other private and parochial social institutions to launch programs that can effectively stabilize and strengthen local communities and actively promoting positive interactions and social bonds among residents. Policies and programs aimed at enhancing public trust in the police should target at younger, better educated and urban Chinese who are more likely to be critical of the police.
Originality/value
Despite their high relevance, social trust and neighborhood cohesion have received only limited attention in past research on Chinese attitudes toward the police. This study represents one of the first attempts to examine different forms of social trust and neighborhood cohesion on public trust in the police in China.
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Guangzhen Wu and Ming Wen
The purpose of this paper is to examine the disparities in stress between rural and urban police officers in China.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the disparities in stress between rural and urban police officers in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for this study were collected from a national police university in China in 2017. In total, 608 Chinese police officers were surveyed representing those attending in-service training program in the university.
Findings
Results showed that rural police officers exhibited a higher level of somatization compared to their urban counterparts, whereas no rural–urban differences were detected for other stress dimensions – anxiety and depression. Additionally, this study suggests that perceived constraints in resources and training partially mediate the observed rural–urban disparities in somatization.
Research limitations/implications
This study is based on a convenient sample of Chinese police officers, which restricts the generalizability of the results.
Practical implications
To reduce stress among police officers, China needs to make more investments in resources and training programs in its rural policing.
Originality/value
A review of literature reveals that studies comparing police stress between rural and urban areas are rare. Additionally, China, as the largest developing nation in the world, remains under-studied with respect to stress among its police officers.
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– The purpose of this paper is to study police powers and accountability from a comparative perspective in both China and Hong Kong.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study police powers and accountability from a comparative perspective in both China and Hong Kong.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper compares and contrasts police powers and accountability.
Findings
The implications are many, including different political systems in which China is more authoritarian or paternalistic whereas Hong Kong is more pluralistic; checks and balances mechanisms in Hong Kong are far greater than in China; and the concept of accountability to the public is different in that Hong Kong police are accountable to members of the public but the mainland Chinese police force has a limited and top-down concept of accountability.
Originality/value
An original comparative approach to policing in Hong Kong and China.
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Hongwei Zhang, Jihong Zhao, Ling Ren and Ruohui Zhao
The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of juvenile attitudes toward the police (JATP) in Chinese social settings. More specifically, this study borrows…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of juvenile attitudes toward the police (JATP) in Chinese social settings. More specifically, this study borrows from the wisdom of social bond theory and relevant literature developed in the USA to explain juvenile ratings of the police on specific job functions.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from a multi-stage cluster sample of 2,704 high school students in a city with a population of 3.8 million located in the southwest region of China. The analysis includes variables derived from social bond theory as well as traditional models commonly employed in US studies, such as demographic background and contact with the police.
Findings
The findings suggest that both social bonds and traditional models have their respective utility to explain the variation in juvenile evaluations of the police.
Originality/value
This study expands the scope of the investigation on JATP in China, a distinctively different cultural environment from the USA. More specifically, it explores the utility of the respective explanatory power of the social bond model and traditional models in relation to juveniles’ ratings of the police in China.
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Studies suggest that official crime statistics are more than a measure of criminal activity. Generated by police, crime figures also reflect the behavior and concerns of…
Abstract
Studies suggest that official crime statistics are more than a measure of criminal activity. Generated by police, crime figures also reflect the behavior and concerns of police. Our case study renders evidence to this argument. A national survey of the crime recording by police was conducted in China in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The results reveal significant under‐representation of crime in the police‐produced statistics and clearly identify the police as the source of errors. Our study presents the survey and examines the findings. We explore systemic and social factors that affect the underpresentation problem and assess possible impact of the findings on the police’s action in crime recording.
Guangzhen Wu, David A. Makin, Yongtao Li, Francis D. Boateng and Gassan Abess
The purpose of this paper is to examine the contours of police integrity among Chinese police officers. Specifically, this study explores how Chinese police evaluate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the contours of police integrity among Chinese police officers. Specifically, this study explores how Chinese police evaluate integrity based on official policy governing interactions, discipline governing infractions, views of seriousness, and willingness to inform when others engage in misconduct.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 353 police officers were surveyed representing those attending in-service training program at a Chinese police university in May 2015. Questionnaires containing 11 scenarios describing police misbehaviors were distributed to officers during classes.
Findings
There was a strong correlation between officers’ perceptions of rule-violation, misconduct seriousness, discipline, and willingness to report. Additionally, preliminary results suggest there exists a code of silence among Chinese officers, and that Chinese officers hold a lenient attitude toward the use of excessive force.
Research limitations/implications
This study utilizes a convenient sample, which restricts the generalizability of the results.
Practical implications
The results indicate the existence of code of silence among Chinese officers and their lenient attitude toward the use of excessive force.
Originality/value
Although there has been a growing body of research examining police integrity in both western democracies and transitional societies, China as the largest developing nation in the world and with a unique police system (falls somewhere between the centralized model and the integrated model) is understudied. This study addresses this gap in previous literature by exploring the contours of police integrity among Chinese police officers.
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Yuning Wu, Shanhe Jiang and Eric Lambert
This study aims to examine Chinese college students' support for community policing.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine Chinese college students' support for community policing.
Design/methodology/approach
Ordinary least squares regression was used to investigate support for community policing based on survey data collected from over 400 college students.
Findings
Results showed that college students in general had positive attitudes toward the philosophy and practices of community policing. Support for community policing was significantly related to concerns of crime, perceptions of police, and attachment to conventional society. Individual background characteristics had no significant effect on support for community policing.
Research limitations/implications
The use of a college student sample has its weaknesses in that findings of this study have a limited generalizability, and some important predictors in explaining public perceptions, such as neighborhood characteristics, were not included. Future research should collect data from the general public and examine public attitudes toward different elements of community policing, and both perceptual and behavioral dimensions of support for community policing.
Originality/value
This study represents the first attempt to examine Chinese perceptions of community policing empirically. Uncovering factors that affect public support for community policing can provide useful references for police administrators to develop policies and practices that encourage more active community involvement in crime control.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the newspaper representations of the aggressive behaviour of social actors in political protests and explore the benefits of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the newspaper representations of the aggressive behaviour of social actors in political protests and explore the benefits of integrating corpus linguistics and cognitive approaches to a critical discourse analysis in analysing press reports.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses methods from corpus linguistics and theoretical constructs from cognitive linguistics to examine patterns of representation around Occupy Central, a recent political protest in Hong Kong, in two corpora of English-language newspaper articles published in China Daily and the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Findings
An analysis of the ten most frequent collocates of the word police showed that the China Daily corpus articles typically index the presentation of police as vulnerable yet professional in their handling of violent protesters, whereas in SCMP, police officers are often presented as aggressors. The analysis subsequently considered three discursive strategies, namely structural configuration, framing and identification that are mediated through conceptualisations that representations in text evoke.
Research limitations/implications
In the proposed integrated approach, quantitative investigations of corpus examples could be focussed and contextualised in such a way that particular linguistic instantiations in discourse which are proved statistically salient can be further analysed in relation to conceptual phenomena which serve specific ideological purposes.
Originality/value
Hopefully, the study could serve as the first ever attempt to adopt an integrative analytical framework in the study of aggression and conflict in news discourse.
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Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the importance of group position and consciousness in predicting people’s perceptions of police fairness in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used survey data collected from 1,095 respondents in Shanghai. Multivariate regression was used to analyze the effects of group positions and group consciousness variables on perceived police fairness, controlling for personal, experiential and neighborhood factors.
Findings
Regardless of their own hukou status, individuals who live in high migrant areas expressed less favorable attitudes toward police fairness. Meanwhile, people who displayed greater degrees of sensitivity to bias in law rated police fairness less favorably, whereas people who expressed higher levels of moral alignment with the law and belief in no choice but to obey the police rated police fairness more favorably. Lower levels of neighborhood disorder and higher degrees of cohesion were also associated with more positive evaluations of police fairness.
Research limitations/implications
The authors’ measure of migrant concentration was constructed based on respondents’ own assessments of this neighborhood feature. Future studies should consider using objective measures to supplement the construction of migrant concentration variables. The authors’ group consciousness variables are limited as they are general, non-residential status specific and only capture part of the traditionally conceptualized variable of group consciousness. Future study should employ better-worded items that can tap precisely into people’s various dimensions of social consciousness based on their group status.
Practical implications
Training officers has to give a high priority to the principles of both procedural and distributive justice, and implement performance and evaluation policies that support fair and responsive police behavior, particularly during situations where citizens report crime to and seek help from the police.
Originality/value
Despite their high relevance, variables reflecting group position have received marginal attention in previous research on public evaluations of the police in China. This study represents a first attempt to examine how the interactions between residence status and the level of neighborhood migrant concentration influence Chinese attitudes toward police fairness.
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