Restorative Justice and Crime Victim’s Family in China – A Case Analysis

Abstract

The victim’s rights movement and restorative justice (RJ) have gained momentum around the world. More laws and policies have focused on crime victims and their families. Western literature suggests that the victim’s family suffers physical, emotional, and financial tolls and that the power of the victim’s family in pursuing justice for their loved ones remains limited. This is particularly concerning within the political and legal context of the abolitionist movement, innocence project, and human rights groups’ campaigns against police torture. Grounded in the perspectives of RJ and Chinese legal culture, this study examines the victim’s family, represented by Ding and senior Yu, of the Nian Bin capital murder case. Drawing on published reports and using the thematic content analysis method, this study examines the following aspects of victim’s family in a death penalty case: 1) victim family’s physical, emotional, and financial tolls; 2) victims’ family and the criminal justice system; 3) victims’ family and the media; and 4) the relationship between the victims’ and the accused’s families. This study concludes with discussions of the competing goals of families impacted by a crime and RJ practices that would help mitigate the loss of the victim’s family and enhance their confidence in the criminal justice system.

Citation

Lu, H., Liang, B. and DeVore, D. (2022), "Restorative Justice and Crime Victim’s Family in China – A Case Analysis", Maxwell, S.R. and Blair, S.L. (Ed.) The Justice System and the Family: Police, Courts, and Incarceration (Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Vol. 20), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 195-221. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1530-353520220000020009