Both China and the Netherlands have civil law systems. Beyond this broad commonality, their legal systems differ remarkably. Their criminal justice policies, however, have shown a converging trend: China is moving away from a punitive tradition toward a holistic approach to crime, while the Netherlands is shifting in the opposite direction toward more punitiveness.

In this context, Shuyu Huang and Malouke Kuiper have studied how Chinese and Dutch prosecutors – as key criminal justice actors in their respective systems – perceive punishment. Drawing on firsthand interview data, their study analyzes to what extent they have similar or different understanding of the effects of punishment on crime.

This presentation will focus on two effects: general deterrence and negative socio-economic consequences. Findings reveal prosecutors’ understanding exhibit greater convergence than divergence. The final discussion will address how to explain this convergence despite profound systemic differences.