Compliance performance
Explaining diverging paths of penal reform across the Global East
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.2464Keywords:
penal reform, compliance, Global East, international standards, ideologyAbstract
This article examines why Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and China - each inheriting the Soviet model of punishment - have diverged in their prison reforms. It asks why Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have moved toward more reintegration-oriented approaches, while China remains centralized and punitive. A comparative case study evaluates four factors: foreign donor involvement, alignment with international norms, openness to NGOs, and the persistence of state ideology. Measured through treaty ratifications, donor projects, NGO access, and policy analysis, the findings show that Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan’s external engagement and reduced ideological control have supported gradual reform. In contrast, China’s strong ideological framework and minimal external influence sustain its punitive system. Using the concept of compliance performance the study explains these differences and contributes to understanding how structural and ideological conditions shape penal change in the Global East.
Downloads
Metrics
Global Statistics ℹ️
|
114
Views
|
3
Downloads
|
|
117
Total
|
|
References
Amnesty International, 2014. Kazakhstan submission to the United Nations Committee against Torture [online]. London: Amnesty International. Available at: https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/1005527/4543_1433162374_eur570022014en.pdf
Amnesty International, 2016. Dead end justice: Impunity for torture in Kazakhstan [online]. London: Amnesty International. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur57/3345/2016/en/
Amnesty International, 2023. Amnesty International Report 2022/23: The state of the world’s human rights [online]. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/es/documents/pol10/5670/2023/en
Axyonova, V., 2016. Promoting Justice Reforms in Central Asia: The European Union’s Rule of Law Initiative as Part of a Comprehensive Democratization Strategy? Central Asian Affairs [online], 3(1), 29–48. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1163/22142290-00301002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/22142290-00301002
Barenberg, A., 2024. What was the Gulag? In: A. Barenberg, ed., The Gulag: A Very Short Introduction [online]. Oxford University Press, p. 0. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780197548226.003.0001. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780197548226.001.0001
Brady, A.M., 2009. Marketing Dictatorship: Propaganda and Thought Work in Contemporary China. London: Bloomsbury. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/9780742567900
Checkel, J.T., 1999. Norms, institutions, and national identity in contemporary Europe. International Studies Quarterly [online], 43(1), 83–114. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/0020-8833.00112 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/0020-8833.00112
Council of Europe, 1983. Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons [online]. Strasbourg, 21 March. Available at: https://rm.coe.int/168007951e
Council of Europe, 2020. Central Asia Rule of Law Programme [online]. Available at: https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/central-asia
Dembour, M.B., 2006. Who Believes in Human Rights?: Reflections on the European Convention. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618192
Dikötter, F., 2016. The Cultural Revolution: A People’s History, 1962–1976. New York: Bloomsbury USA.
Dolmatov, K., et al., 2024. Addressing human rights violations in the criminal justice system of Kazakhstan: The role of the prosecutor’s office and a call for legislative reforms. Access to Justice in Eastern Europe [online], 7(3), 63–90. Available at: https://doi.org/10.33327/AJEE-18-7.3-a000323 DOI: https://doi.org/10.33327/AJEE-18-7.3-a000323
Engel, D.M., Chua, L.J. and Liu, S., eds., 2023. Legal Pluralism. In: L.J. Chua, D.M. Engel and S. Liu, eds., The Asian Law and Society Reader [online]. Cambridge University Press, 74–113. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108864824.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108864824.003
European Union, 2021. Justice programme (2021-2027) [online]. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=legissum:4525361
Freedom House, 2023. Nations in Transit 2023 – Kyrgyzstan [online]. Available at: https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2092899.html
Freedom House, 2024. Kyrgyzstan: Freedom in the World 2024 Country Report [online]. Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/kyrgyzstan/freedom-world/2024
Garland, D., 2001. The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226190174.001.0001
GOV.KZ, 2021. The head of State signed the law on the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Republic of Kazakhstan. GOV.KZ [online], 30 December. Available at: https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/ombudsman/press/news/details/308567?lang=en
Hafner-Burton, E.M., and Tsutsui, K., 2005. Human rights in a globalizing world: The paradox of empty promises. American Journal of Sociology [online], 110(5), 1373–1411. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1086/428442 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/428442
Harris, R., 2019. Repression and Quiet Resistance in Xinjiang. Current History [online], 118(810). Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/48614468 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.2019.118.810.276
Human rights in Kazakhstan, 2025. Wikipedia [online], 24 May. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Human_rights_in_Kazakhstan&oldid=1291962735
Human Rights Watch, 2020. Kazakhstan: Events of 2019. In: HRW, World Report 2020 [online]. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/kazakhstan
Human Rights Watch, 2022. China: Events of 2021. In: HRW, World Report 2022 [online]. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/china-and-tibet DOI: https://doi.org/10.46692/9781447318491
Isaacs, R., 2009. The EU’s Rule of Law Initiative in Central Asia [online]. 4 August. Available at: https://eucentralasia.eu/the-eus-rule-of-law-initiative-in-central-asia/
Kemp, T., and Tomczak, P., 2024. The Cruel Optimism of International Prison Regulation: Prison Ontologies and Carceral Harms. Law & Social Inquiry [online], 49(3), 1683–1714. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2023.63 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2023.63
Kilichova, N., 2023. Development Aid in Central Asia: A “Chessboard” for Great Powers? In: A. Mihr, P. Sorbello, and B. Weiffen, eds., Securitization and Democracy in Eurasia: Transformation and Development in the OSCE Region [online]. Cham: Springer International, 77–94. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16659-4_5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16659-4_5
Lacey, N., 2008. The Prisoners’ Dilemma: Political Economy and Punishment in Contemporary Democracies [online]. Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819247 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819247
Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 111-V as of July 2, 2013. On Introduction of Changes and Addendae to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Establishment of the National Preventive Mechanism to Prevent Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Types of Treatment and Punishment [online]. Available at: https://www.apt.ch/sites/default/files/2023-08/npm%20law%20%28kazakhstan%29.pdf
Liu, L., and Wing Hong, C., 2018. Rehabilitation policy for drug addicted offenders in China: current trends, patterns, and practice implications. Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development [online], 28(3). Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02185385.2018.1482779 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02185385.2018.1482779
Marat, E., 2018. The Politics of Police Reform: Society Against the State in Post-Soviet Countries. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190861490.001.0001
Merry, S.E., 2006. Human Rights & Gender Violence: Translating International Law into Local Justice. University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226520759.001.0001
Mihr, A., and Wittke, C., eds., 2023. Human Rights Dissemination in Central Asia [online]. Cham: Springer. Available at: https://library.oapen.org/viewer/web/viewer.html?file=/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/63004/978-3-031-27972-0.pdf
Miller, M., and Smith, J.S., 2015. In the shadow of the Gulag: Worker discipline under Stalin. Journal of Comparative Economics [online], 43(3), 531–548. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2015.01.005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2015.01.005
Mitskaya, E., 2023. Non-Compliance of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Law With International Anti-Corruption Standards. AJEE [online], 1/2024, 9(0). Available at: https://ajee-journal.com/non-compliance-of-kazakhstan-s-criminal-law-with-international-anti-corruption-standards DOI: https://doi.org/10.33327/AJEE-18-7.1-r000103
Mosher, S.W., 1991. Chinese Prison Labor. Society, November/December 1991, 49-59. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02695363
Mühlhahn, K., 2009. Criminal Justice in China: A History. Harvard University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674054332
Myrzakhmetova, A., et al., 2024. The civic education of young people in the education system: a review of the normative and legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Bulletin of the Karaganda university History: Philosophy series [online], 29(4). Available at: https://history-philosophy-vestnik.buketov.edu.kz/index.php/history-philosophy-vestnik/article/view/1232 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31489/2024HPh4/114-123
Nelken, D., 2009. Comparative Criminal Justice: Beyond Ethnocentrism and Relativism. European Journal of Criminology [online], 6(4), 291–311. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370809104684 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370809104684
O’Brien, T., 2016. Civil society under authoritarianism: the China model, by Jessica Teets. Democratization [online], 23(3), 570–572. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2015.1058362 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2015.1058362
Office of the Directorate General for Programmes, 2018. Neighbourhood Co-operation Priorities for Kazakhstan 2014-2015: Co-operation activities on Council of Europe’s conventions in criminal matters, extended until 2017 and 2018 (GR-EXT(2018)12) [online]. Final report. 25 September. Available at: https://search.coe.int/cm?i=09000016808d9eda
Office of the Directorate General for Programmes, 2019. Council of Europe Neighbourhood Co-operation Priorities for Kazakhstan (2019-2022) (GR-EXT(2019)2) [online]. 5 March. Available at: https://rm.coe.int/0900001680935991
OHCHR, 1992. Committee against Torture [online]. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/cat
OHCHR, 2022. OHCHR Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China [online]. 31 August. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/2022-08-31/22-08-31-final-assesment.pdf
OHCHR, 2023. UN Human Rights Report 2023. United Nations. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/ohchr-reports/ohchr-report-2023.pdf
OHCHR, 2025. Universal Periodic Review – Kyrgyzstan [online]. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/kg-index
Omel’chenko, E.L., Garifzyanova, A.R., and Pallot, J., 2024. “Humiliation, shame and torment”: Continuity and change in the statuses and power hierarchies in the post-Soviet prison system. Incarceration [online], 5, p. 26326663241257360. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/26326663241257360 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/26326663241257360
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, 2023. Prison staff play a crucial role in ensuring human rights of detainees, say ODIHR event participants [online]. 11 October. Available at: https://www.osce.org/odihr/554665
Peerenboom, R., 2007. China Modernizes: Threat to the West or Model for the Rest? Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226122.001.0001
Penal Reform International (PRI), 2013a. Impact evaluation: Rehabilitation of former prisoners in Kazakhstan 2012-2013 [online]. Available at: https://www.penalreform.org/resource/impact-evaluation-rehabilitation-prisoners-kazakhstan-20122013/
Penal Reform International (PRI), 2013b. Law on a National Preventive Mechanism, Kazakhstan [online]. Available at: https://www.penalreform.org/resource/law-npm-kazakhstan
Penal Reform International (PRI), 2019. 2020-2023 Strategy for Penal Reform International [online]. Available at: https://www.penalreform.org/resource/2020-2023-strategy
Penal Reform International (PRI), 2020. Global Prison Trends 2020 [online]. Available at: https://www.penalreform.org/resource/global-prison-trends-2020/
Penal Reform International (PRI), 2021. Global Prison Trends 2021 [online]. Available at: https://www.penalreform.org/global-prison-trends-2021/
Penal Reform International (PRI), 2022. Event: Global Prison Trends 2022 [online]. Available at: https://www.penalreform.org/resource/global-prison-trends-2022-launch/
Penal Reform International (PRI), 2024. A new five-year Strategy: Criminal justice reform with human rights at its core [online]. Penal Reform International. Available at: https://www.penalreform.org/resource/2024-2028-strategy-for-penal-reform-international/
Piacentini, L., and Slade, G., 2024. East is East? Beyond the Global North and Global South in Criminology. British Journal of Criminology [online], 64(3), 521–537. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azad048 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azad048
PRI office in Central Asia, 2021. The Penitentiary System in the New Reality, Online Forum proceedings [online]. 8 July. Available at: https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Kazakhstan-Forum-Report_Eng.pdf
Risse, T., and Sikkink, K., 1999. The socialization of international human rights norms into domestic practices: introduction. In: T. Risse, S.C. Ropp and K. Sikkink, eds., The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change. Cambridge Studies in International Relations. Cambridge University Press, 1-38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511598777.002
Satubaldina, A., 2019. PRI seeks to help Kazakhstan reform criminal justice system, prevent torture. The Astana Times [online], 14 June. Available at: https://astanatimes.com/2019/06/pri-seeks-to-help-kazakhstan-reform-criminal-justice-system-prevent-torture/
Shaw, V.N., 1998. Productive Labor and Thought Reform in Chinese Corrections: A Historical and Comparative Analysis. The Prison Journal [online], 78(2). Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0032885598078002007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885598078002007
Simmons, B.A., 2009. Mobilizing for human rights: international law in domestic politics. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511811340
Slade, G., 2018. Unpacking Prison Reform in the Former Soviet Union. The Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies. Pipss.org [Preprint] [online], 19. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4000/pipss.5242 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/pipss.5242
Slade, G., and Trochev, A., 2019. Trials and Tribulations: Kazakhstan’s Criminal Justice Reforms. In: J.F. Caron, ed., Kazakhstan and the Soviet Legacy [online]. Palgrave Macmillan Singapore, 75-99. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6693-2_5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6693-2_5
Slade, G., and Trochev, A., 2024. Our zona: the impact of decarceration and prison closure on local communities in Kazakhstan. Post-Soviet Affairs [online], 40(2), 71-87. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2024.2312081 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2024.2312081
Slade, G., Trochev, A., and Piacentini, L., 2023. Unlikely downsizers: The prison service’s role in reversing mass incarceration in Kazakhstan. Theoretical Criminology [online], 27(4), 573–596. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/13624806231177020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13624806231177020
Slade, G., Trochev, A., and Talgatova, M., 2022. The Limits of Authoritarian Modernisation: Zero Tolerance Policing in Kazakhstan [online]. London: Routledge. Available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003308607-9/limits-authoritarian-modernisation-zero-tolerance-policing-kazakhstan-gavin-slade-alexei-trochev-malika-talgatova DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003308607-9
Su, J., 2016. Punishment without trial: the past, present and future of reeducation through labor in China. Peking University Law Journal [online], 4(1). Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/20517483.2016.1174436 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/20517483.2016.1174436
Trochev, A., 2018. Transitional Justice Attempts in Kazakhstan. In: C.M. Horne and L. Stan, eds., Transitional Justice and the Former Soviet Union: Reviewing the Past, Looking toward the Future [online]. Cambridge University Press, 88–108. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108182171.005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108182171.005
U.S. Department of State, 2016. Kazakhstan [online]. Report. 13 April. Available at: https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2015/sca/252965.htm
UN Committee Against Torture, 2021. Concluding observations on the 3rd periodic report of Kyrgyzstan (CAT/C/KGZ/CO/3) [online]. Geneva. Available at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3954252?ln=es&v=pdf
United Nations (UN), 2016. Visit to Kazakhstan undertaken from 20 to 29 September 2016 : observations and recommendations addressed to the State party : report of the Subcommittee [on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment]: addendum (CAT/OP/KAZ/1/Add.1) [online]. Available at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3936998?v=pdf
UNODC, 2017. Roadmap for the Development of Prison-based Rehabilitation Programmes [online]. Available at: https://www.unodc.org/documents/middleeastandnorthafrica/2018/Roadmap_for_the_Development_of_Prison-based_Rehabilitation_Programmes_ENG.pdf
UNODC, 2020. Kazakhstan Prison Service rolls out UNODC’S Interactive E-Learning Course on the Nelson Mandela Rules [online]. United Nations : UNODC Regional Office for Afghanistan. Available at: https://www.unodc.org/roca/en/news/kazakhstan-prison-service-rolls-out-unodcs-interactive-e-learning-course-on-the-nelson-mandela-rules.html
UNODC, 2021. United Nations System Common Position on Incarceration [online]. Available at: https://www.unodc.org/res/justice-and-prison-reform/nelsonmandelarules-GoF/UN_System_Common_Position_on_Incarceration.pdf
Wacquant, L., 2009. Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity. In: L. Wacquant, Punishing the Poor [online]. Durham: Duke University Press. Available at: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780822392255/html DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822392255
Xu, F., 2006. Policing Chinese Politics: A History, Michael Dutton, Durham: Duke University Press, pp. xiii, 411. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique [online], 39(2), 454–456. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423906389986 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423906389986
Zyl Smit, D., and Snacken, S., 2009. Principles of European Prison Law and Policy: Penology and Human Rights. Oxford University Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Dalida Mukasheva
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
OSLS strictly respects intellectual property rights and it is our policy that the author retains copyright, and articles are made available under a Creative Commons licence. The Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution No-Derivatives licence is our default licence and it regulates how others can use your work. Further details available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 If this is not acceptable to you, please contact us.
The non-exclusive permission you grant to us includes the rights to disseminate the bibliographic details of the article, including the abstract supplied by you, and to authorise others, including bibliographic databases, indexing and contents alerting services, to copy and communicate these details.
For information on how to share and store your own article at each stage of production from submission to final publication, please read our Self-Archiving and Sharing policy.
The Copyright Notice showing the author and co-authors, and the Creative Commons license will be displayed on the article, and you must agree to this as part of the submission process. Please ensure that all co-authors are properly attributed and that they understand and accept these terms.
