Embedded Crime: An Explanation on Current Gangland Behaviors in Chinese Rural Societies

• In Event: Crime in Rural China (Organized by the Division of Rural Criminology)

Abstract

In recent years, the Chinese government has launched a specific set of actions on “cracking down on gangland crime” in rural China, which has been a long-standing issue in all of China. Using data from media reports, field research, and case studies derived from eight middle-south Chinese villages, this study qualitatively analyzes the process by which gangland crime is embedded into Chinese rural society as well as the impact on the society as a whole. This paper proposes a definition of the concept of “Embedded Crime” which means that the rural criminal ganglands are often intertwined with rural formal power institutions, cultural networks and social structures, and the nature of their behaviors is ambiguous between illegal and legal within this context. Many of them involve local authorities and often affect rural social governance processes. This paper pays more attention to how gangland criminal behaviors affect and reconstruct rural social structure and culture. This paper suggests possible future policy and prevention alternatives.

Author

• Hongmin Fan, Zhengzhou University