UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal

Since its founding the People's Republic of China has used various forms of administrative detention to rehabilitate administrative offenders, in particular drug users and prostitutes. A number of studies have focused on the undesirability of administrative detention in terms of its questionable legality and rationality. Very few studies, however, focus on its poor effectiveness in preventing re-offending and its contribution to high recidivism rates in China for certain offenses. This article first examines the true nature of the policy of administrative detention by looking at the policy's rationales of punishment, retribution and deterrence. In contrast to administrative detention, education, rehabilitation and correction based on the utilization of social capital have successfully contributed to a reduction in recidivism for administrative offenses. By reviewing the practice of the Chinese community correction program, this article concludes that compared to administrative detention, community correctional schemes that are filled with positive social capital may serve as the ideal substitute to rehabilitate Chinese administrative offenders.