One or Two-Way Communication: A Case Study on Offender Counseling

Abstract

Offender counseling has been booming in China with typical Chinese characteristics, one of the most prominent of which is the possession of dual identities by both parties during the counseling interaction. This article, based on conversation analysis, focuses on one case study and examines “what is actually going on” between the police counselor and inmate client in the context of the prison in order to explore: (1) what kinds of discursive strategies are employed by the police counselor to engage the inmate client in the counseling; (2) how the inmate client responds to delicate matters, formulaic questions, and advice delivered by the police counselor; and (3) how the police counselor and inmate client manage their speech during the counseling conversation despite the obvious power imbalance between them.

KEYWORDS:

• correctional process
• correctional treatment
• mental health
• offender rehabilitation
• qualitative research

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers, proofreaders, and editors of the journal for their valuable comments, patience, and hard work devoted to the drafts of this article.

Notes

The term “gaizhao” means replacing the old with the new and has been used to refer to the reforming of prisoners in China. With the introduction of Western penology, the term “gaizhao” has gradually been replaced by terms such as correction and rehabilitation among academics and practitioners in the fields of criminal justice, but is still very popularly used by prison officials and prisoners in China's prisons.