In this article, the author draws on his years of fieldwork contact with participants who experience various problem events in life, including truancy, running away, delinquency, vagrancy, homelessness, gang membership, criminal conviction, drug abuse, domestic abuse, sexual deviance, sexually transmitted disease, mental disorder, and infection with HIV/AIDS. He examines challenges from and explores strategies for research with participants in problem experience, on the matter of recruitment, participation, empowerment, cross-checking, and researcher protection. He includes examples to illustrate how generalizations in each category are made from real-world observation.

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This article attempts to describe and analyze the Chinese system of corrections and punishment as it appears in front of the world. First is a review of historical development. The focus is then placed on the analysis of the Chinese correctional system with respect to its structure, legal framework, practice, management, and operational effectiveness. The article ends up with an examination of what reforms China is undertaking in response to domestic and international criticisms against its practices in corrections and punishment.

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The Chinese practice of productive labor and thought reform in correctional institutions is rooted in Chinese history and culture. It bears influence and reinforcement from the Western prison model of reform and rehabilitation introduced to China at the turn of the 20th century. However, it was not until the communist era that productive labor and thought reform were systematically instituted with a unified ideology and a military-style organization. This article examines productive labor and thought reform in terms of its history, rationale, process, and consequence. From a historical and comparative perspective, it shows what reference they may offer to Western corrections and how they may evolve with the open-up and reform policy in China.