Procedural Violence in Chinese Criminal Courtrooms

Abstract This article explores the relationship between penal violence and legal procedures. Drawing on five months of participant observation in a lower court in China and an analysis of 215 trial videos, the author introduces the concept of ‘procedural violence’ to describe how legal procedures can generate violence during micro-level courtroom interactions. The central argument is that a courtroom process focussed primarily on conviction and efficiency creates a framing mismatch between legal actors and defendants in their understanding of legal procedures. This results in confrontational tension, which can readily escalate into violence against defendants. The article reveals how punitive and authoritarian elements continue to pervade the legal process, despite the broader context of leniency within the Chinese penal regime.