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Property Victimization, Perception of Neighborhood Safety, and Perceived Fairness of the Criminal Justice System Within the Chinese Context

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Abstract

Although prior research has widely tested the public’s perceived fairness of the criminal justice system, such as the police, the court, and the prosecutor’s offices, such research is mainly conducted within Western contexts. Empirical research conducted in the Chinese context remains relatively limited. Based on survey data randomly collected from Guangzhou, China, this study rigorously examines the linkage between victimization, including physical victimization and property victimization, and the perceived fairness of the criminal justice system. It also examines the mediating effect of the perception of neighborhood safety on this linkage. The study finds that people’s property victimization experience, rather than the physical victimization experience, would negatively and significantly influence their trust in the fairness of the criminal justice system. Such a negative effect was partially mediated by people’s perception of neighborhood safety, and the direct effect was found to be stronger than the indirect effect. Based on these findings, policy implications are explored in this study.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are not publicly available, but available from the authors upon reasonable request.

Notes

  1. After the outbreak of COVID-19 around the world at the end of 2019, China implemented mitigation measures such as staying at home and social distance restrictions, which hindered the surveys offline and therefore failed to provide updated data.

  2. According to the statistical data from the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, as of the end of 2019, the total number of the CPC members was 91.914 million. In the same year, the total population of China was about 1.408 billion. So, the proportion of CPC members among the total population in that year was approximately 6.565%. Retrieved September 28, 2023, from http://cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0630/c419242-31765286.html.

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  1. Law School, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China

    Honglan Shuai

  2. Faculty of Law, University of Macau, Macau, China

    Jianhong Liu

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Shuai, H., Liu, J. Property Victimization, Perception of Neighborhood Safety, and Perceived Fairness of the Criminal Justice System Within the Chinese Context. Asian J Criminol 18, 413–431 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-023-09411-z

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