Research Of Reoffending By Offenders In The Community

Offenders in the community are a particular group of offenders who are managed in the community because of their low risks to the society, when they are put in custody, in temporary execution of sentence outside prision, on suspended sentences, in deprivation of political rights, or released from prison on parole. The community-based offender corrections system is one type of non-custodial penal sanction established on the basis of community resources, to monitor and supervise those offenders of lower risks in a regular community environment. The theory of ’community-based corrections’was raised earlier in the late 19th century in western developed countries, which has a 100-year history. Recently, with continuous research and practice committed in the field of execution socialisation in an international background, the execution system in China is trending to transform from providing custodial penalties to non-custodial penalties with efforts. The PRC Criminal Law Amendments Act (8) which was approved at the 19th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People’s Congress on 25th February,2011, for the first time, legalises the community-based corrections system in China. However, this system and legislation in China still need to experience a long-term development for modification compared to the circumstances in western developed countries, since the legislation is recently established and thus relevant social and legal rules have plenty of room for improvement. And meanwhile, the limitations of the unique mechanism of urban-rural social formation in China delay its development and keep causing concerns continuously as well. At present, the community-based corrections system is still one type of new criminal execution in China, and with the speedy development of society and economy, reoffending by offenders in the community is gaining more and more attention. The offenders in the community lose partial rights because of committing criminal crimes, which leads them to be supervised in the community while confronting the pressures caused by housing, family, marriage, employment and other factors, in the meantime, certain offenders reoffend again because of their weak legal consciousness, insufficient supervision obtained and some other reasons. One main reason for the offenders in the community to reoffend is the difficulties in being accepted back to society. Therefore, how to help the offenders to get rid of bad habits, formulate an accurate conception of values, and re-integrated into society becomes an essential topic in the community-based corrections system. Marx once said that the criminal in encroach upon others is also on its own, this kind of infringement on its own is a kind of punishment. This punishment makes them from the social norms and cultural norms and legal restriction, eventually lead to social isolation, back on the path of crime.As a result, helping the offenders in the community to re-integrate into society is considered as the most efficient measure to reduce reoffending. This dissertation firstly demonstrates the concept of reoffending by offenders in the community, then introduces precautions for reoffending in China and other countries, which is followed, by discussing the main causes of reoffending in China. Finally, based on the abovementioned issues, this author adds personal opinions on the precautionary measures for reoffending by offenders in the community in China. In addition to the introductory and conclusive parts, this dissertation is divided into 4 main chapters. The first chapter introduces fundamental theories of reoffending by offenders in the community. This chapter covers the definition, characteristics and legal status of the offenders in the community, and also the nature and evaluation of risks of reoffending. In the second chapter, following a comparative study on the precautionary regimes for reoffending by offenders in the community in Chinese law and legislations in other countries, an analysis of the current mechanism in China and its defects is provided, so as to extract experience from the legal systems in America and Canada and make improvement. In the third chapter, further research is conducted regarding the inducements to reoffending, through analysing the current circumstances and reality of reoffending by offenders in the community in China, in association with observing the offenders’personal reasons, social reasons, and the community-based corrections work. The last chapter provides suggestions on the precautionary measures to reduce reoffending, which consist of 4 main aspects, including amending relevant legislations, modifying relevant legal regimes; enhancing the deterrence of the community-based corrections; innovating operation methods and improving the quality; strengthening publicity in society and cultivating a hospitable environment.