After Opium War Qing Dynasty Jail And Prison Politics Improvement

The system of prison of the late Qing Dynasty was inhabited from the Ming Dynasty. Generally speaking, the prison in Qing Dynasty had not detached from the feudal system of prison. In Qing Dynasty prison was not an execution agency but an organ which was used to detent the suspect in order to prevent them from escaping. The management system in the late Qing Dynasty was relatively simple. Those in charge of the prison were illiterate, greedy and cruel. Although there were some legislation stipulated that the prisoners should be treated correctly, the truth was that people turned pale at the only mention of prison. The cruelty of prison still existed.Under the dual pressure of the domestic and international situations, the tide of reform became stronger after the opium war. As our country opened up gradually, it was amazing that the system of prison was the first one to be studied at the beginning of exploring the superior western system. However, the reason was very simple. As the western said, the system of prison was regarded as a mirror to weigh the civilization of a society .At that time, to Chinese people, the western country was the example of advance. What's more, the system of prison is related to the social grief. So it is reasonable that the reform of prison is the beginning of the reform of a society.Though the system of prison and its reform in the late Qing Dynasty had got less praise and more criticism, the positive aspects of the reform attracted more attention along with the legalization of socialism. After analyzing the literature in existence, I find that the study on it is still at original state. Therefore, I select it as my research object.This article consisted of five parts. The introduction illustrates the motivation of selecting this issue, the research method and the recent study situation. The second part describes the prison system of the late Qing Dynasty, including the characteristics of legislation, the institution and the staffs of the prison, the system of management and the corrupt truth. The third one analyzes the background and the reasons of the prison reform after the Opium War. From two aspects, the fourth part explains in detail how the reform was put into practice. The last one mainly evaluates the reform of the prison system of the late Qing Dynasty and pays more attention to its positive aspects.