Restorative Justice Or What?: Restorative Justice in the Chinese Youth Justice System

This article aims to examine restorative justice (RJ) practices in China’s youth justice system, seeking to make contributions to the global effort of operationalising the notion. It begins with an outline of the Chinese youth justice system. Following a brief literature review on RJ movements in China, it moves on to introduce the current programmes in the country’s youth justice practices, including those similar to the Western notion of RJ and those recognised as RJ only in China, and the legal mechanisms facilitating the development of restorative justice. It concludes that China is in its own way translating the critical values of RJ theory into its youth justice system, leaning towards a better one for juveniles. The development of restorative justice and criminal justice as a whole in China is a work in progress. Local variations and timeframe for development should be permissible in its legal reform.