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Strike Hard Against Crime Campaign (1983)

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See also: Law enforcement in China, Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism, and Boluan Fanzheng
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The 1983 "Strike Hard" Anti-crime Campaign (Chinese: 严厉打击刑事犯罪活动; pinyin: Yánlì dǎjí xíngshì fànzuì huódòng), or "Stern Blow" Anti-crime Campaign of 1983, was an anti-crime campaign initiated by former paramount leader of China Deng Xiaoping beginning in September 1983.[1][2][3][4][5] The campaign lasted for three years and five months, and was launched largely as a result of the nationwide worsening of public safety due to the breakdown of social order and the public security system following the Cultural Revolution, when crimes like rape, murder, robbery, and arson occurred en-masse, and even cannibalism took place in some parts of China.[4][6][7][8]

During the "three battles" of the "Strike Hard" campaign, some 197,000 criminal groups were targeted, 1.772 million people were arrested and 1.747 million people were prosecuted with an estimated 30,000 sentenced to death.[1][7][8][9] Although visible improvements in public safety followed, controversies arose as to whether some of the legal punishments were too harsh and whether the legal processes of many cases were complete and sufficiently rigorous.[2][3][7][8][9]

Background

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Prior to the crackdown, the launch of the reform and the opening up policy, the public safety situation was extremely chaotic. According to data from the Ministry of Public Security, in 1978, 530,000 public security and criminal cases were filed in the People's Republic of China; in 1980, more than 750,000, including more than 50,000 major cases; in 1981, more than 890,000, including more than 67,000 major cases.[7][10] In 1982, more than 740,000, including 64,000 major cases. In the first few months of 1983, the number of cases continued to increase sharply. Many of these cases caused serious disturbance to public security.[1][7][8]

Progress and results

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See also: Boluan Fanzheng

The "Strike Hard" campaign was launched during the early stage of legal re-construction in China when the legal system had been almost destroyed in the Cultural Revolution.[6][11][12] The criminal law of China came into effect in 1980 and the new Constitution of China was passed in 1982;[13] subsequently, the campaign was formally launched in September 1983 and lasted until January 1987, receiving support from Deng Xiaoping.[8][9]

Their campaign consisted of three rounds or "battles" as described by the state media outlets.[7][8][9] In total, some 197,000 criminal groups were cracked down, 1.772 million people were arrested, 321,000 were re-educated through labor and 1.747 million people received legal punishment, with some 24,000 were executed (mainly in the first round), having an immediate effect on public safety.[1][7][8][9] Scholars estimate that during the three years of the campaign, some 30,000 people were sentenced to death.[14] A number of people arrested (some even received death penalty) were children or relatives of government officials at various levels, including the grandson of Zhu De, demonstrating the principle of "equality before the law".[6][7][8]

Controversies

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The campaign itself was the subject of much controversy due to reported use of torture, extrajudicial detentions, arrest quotas, forced confessions and miscarriages of justice in which innocents were executed and or imprisoned for extended periods of time.[14] The long-term effectiveness of the "strike hard" campaign on public safety has also been questioned.[2][3][7][8][9] Almost immediately after the 1996 campaign ended, criminal cases began to climb, and by September 1997, monthly crime rates were back where they had been when the campaign began according to Liu Renwen, a lawyer who studied the campaigns at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Law in Beijing.[15] The New York Times stated that the result of the campaign were largely ineffective due to the underfunding, training and financing of the police force. According to the Times, the percentage of policemen killed in the line of duty in during the campaign was several times higher than the United States and as many as 10 times the rate during the Mao era.[14]

Continuation into early 2001

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The campaign continued sporadically into early 2001, with the state newspaper the People's Daily reporting the widespread and multiple cases of execution of gangsters and or individuals involved in organized crime specifically in cases of robberies, kidnapping, blackmail, drug trafficking.[16][17][18][19]

Subsequent campaigns

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See also: Anti-corruption campaign under Xi Jinping

Since the initiation of the first campaign in 1983, the Chinese government has initiated a number of other campaigns under the "strike hard" slogan such as the strike hard campaign against violent extremism in Xinjiang involving the detention of millions of Uyghurs, political and religious repression, and widespread dissemination of surveillance within the region, described by some as "dystopian".[20]

Under the anti-corruption campaign launched under CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, a parallel campaign has also been operating since 2013 against organized crime and local party officials who shelter criminal networks and criminal groups. In July 2021, South China Morning Post reported that Chen Yixin, secretary general of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, stated that the new "strike hard" campaign against organized crime in 2018 would target the telecoms, resources, transport and construction sectors, industries in which rent seeking and corruption are commonly known to take place in China.[21]

The campaign, launched in 2018, was originally meant to run for three years. However, in March, Guo Shengkun, party secretary of the commission, said the campaign would continue as it had "won the people's support" for cleaning up the grass roots governance system (referring to residential communities in cities and villages in rural areas).[22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "China rejects "strike hard" anti-crime policy for more balanced approach". People's Daily. 2007-03-14. Archived from the original on 2020-10-18. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  2. ^ a b c Trevaskes, Susan (2002). "Courts on the Campaign Path in China: Criminal Court Work in the "Yanda 2001" Anti-Crime Campaign". Asian Survey. 42 (5): 673–693. doi:10.1525/as.2002.42.5.673. hdl:10072/6536. ISSN 0004-4687. JSTOR 10.1525/as.2002.42.5.673.
  3. ^ a b c Tanner, Murray Scot (2000). "State Coercion and the Balance of Awe: The 1983-1986 "Stern Blows" Anti-Crime Campaign". The China Journal. 44 (44): 93–125. doi:10.2307/2667478. ISSN 1324-9347. JSTOR 2667478. S2CID 144914475.
  4. ^ a b "Strike Hard!: Anti-Crime Campaigns and Chinese Criminal Justice, 1979-1985". Cornell University. Archived from the original on 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  5. ^ "邓小平1983年因何痛下决心要全国"严打"？". Renmin Wang (in Chinese). 2012-01-19. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  6. ^ a b c "Detentions, torture, executions: how China dealt with mafia in the past". South China Morning Post. 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tao, Ying (2010-10-20). "1983年"严打"：非常时期的非常手段". Renmin Wang (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i ""严打"政策的前世今生". China Criminal Justice (in Chinese). 2010-07-01. Archived from the original on 2021-01-03. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Cui, Min. "反思八十年代"严打"". Yanhuang Chunqiu (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2020-06-19. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  10. ^ ""严打"在1983". Phoenix Television (in Chinese). 2008-07-15. Archived from the original on 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  11. ^ "China's Legal Encounter with the West - Foreign Policy Research Institute". Foreign Policy Research Institute. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  12. ^ Leese, Daniel; Engman, Puck (2018-06-25). Victims, Perpetrators, and the Role of Law in Maoist China: A Case-Study Approach. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-053365-1.
  13. ^ "Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China". PERMANENT MISSION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TO THE UNITED NATIONS AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN VIENNA. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  14. ^ a b c Smith, Craig S. (2001-12-26). "China's Efforts Against Crime Make No Dent". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  15. ^ by. "Interview with Renwen Liu, Director of the CASS Criminal Law Department – Finnish China Law Center". Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  16. ^ "Police in Shanxi Capture 1,682 Criminal Suspects". en.people.cn. April 23, 2001. Archived from the original on August 2, 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  17. ^ "Six Bank Robbers Executed in Jiangxi". en.people.cn. March 16, 2001. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  18. ^ "Major Drug Trafficking, Trading Gang Smashed in Shanghai". en.people.cn. March 16, 2001. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  19. ^ "15 Gangsters Executed in Northeast China Province". en.people.cn. May 21, 2001. Archived from the original on August 2, 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  20. ^ "'Counter-Extremism' in Xinjiang: Understanding China's Community-Focused Counter-Terrorism Tactics". War on the Rocks. 2019-01-14. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  21. ^ "Detentions, torture, executions: how China dealt with mafia in the past". South China Morning Post. 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  22. ^ "China to 'strike hard' on four sectors in organised crime crackdown". South China Morning Post. 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
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