Public Attitudes toward Official Justice in Beijing and Rural China

One country, three populations: Trust in police among migrants, villagers, and urbanites in China

“…While these samples served the research questions well, they do not adequately reflect the huge developmental gaps between the interior and coastal areas in China, which could arguably have a great impact on public trust in the police (Michelson and Read, 2011;. A more diverse and encompassing sample including respondents from various rural and urban areas should be collected to further assess the migrant-nonmigrant and rural-urban distinctions in evaluations of the police.…”

“…While previous studies fail to take into consideration the possible multi-dimensions associated with police trustworthiness, their findings reveal a highly favorable rating of trust or confidence in the Chinese police, ranging from roughly 67% to 86% (see Lai et al, 2010;Wu et al, 2012;Wu and Sun, 2009). One of the exceptions of this line of investigation is Michelson and Read's (2011) study of public perceptions of legal authorities in Beijing and rural China, which found that Chinese citizens tended to conflate procedural justice and outcome justice in their assessments of the police. Similarly, Sun and coauthors (2013) found that Chinese trust in the police is one-dimensional in nature.…”

“…Two recent studies did touch on rural peasants. Michelson and Read (2011) compared public perceptions of legal authorities (i.e., the police and courts) in Beijing and rural China and found that rural residents were more critical of the police than their urban counterparts. Sun and colleagues' (2013) recent study showed that villagers displayed lower degrees of satisfaction with their police than urbanites, but the two groups were not distinguishable in their trust in the police.…”

“…Although the barriers that exist to conducting research in China have been long and widely acknowledged (e.g., Cohen, 1970;Liang and Lu, 2006;Zhang et al, 2007), the past two decades have witnessed the burgeoning of research concerning law, crime, and justice in China. Directly pertinent to this current study is a line of investigation of public assessments of the Chinese police (Cao and Hou, 2001;Jiang et al, 2012;Lai et al, 2010;Michelson and Read, 2011;Sun et al, , 2013Wu et al, 2012;Sun 2009, 2010). Albeit still small in number, these studies have offered valuable baseline information about the general patterns of public attitudes toward the police and, to a lesser extent, assessed factors influencing such evaluations along theoretical frameworks.…”

Above the Roof, Beneath the Law: Perceived Justice behind Disruptive Tactics of Migrant Wage Claimants in China

“…The findings from a few authors who touch upon the public attitude toward official justice offer inconclusive evidence to the question. For example, Gallagher and Wang (: 230) contend that “[Y]ounger, non‐state workers tended to take their cases directly to the legal system after direct negotiations with management failed … They barely even contemplated going to the government's petitioning offices.” Michelson and Read's () survey suggests that those who have no experience with the formal legal systems tend to view the system positively, even though their view of the legality would soon be replaced by “informed disenchantment” once they start engaging the system. Why, then, would most migrant workers, most of whom are young and employed outside the state‐owed sectors and have little experience with the formal legal system, decide to never bother with the legal process, or to take disruptive actions after brief initial contact with officials?…”