ALSA 2025 meeting

The global rise in female incarceration has been disproportionately driven by drug offences, exposing the gendered effects of drug policies. Scholars argue the “war on drugs” has become a “war on women,” eroding leniency extended to female offenders. China offers a critical test case, where drug enforcement is tied to national security and harsh sentencing is politically mandated—raising questions about whether the classic finding of gender-based sentencing leniency persists in this high-pressure context.

Critically, gender effects on drug sentencing in China cannot be fully understood at the national level due to significant local variation. While institutional efforts aim to standardize sentencing through uniform rules, organizational arrangements, and political imperatives, these efforts intersect with persistent cultural norms—especially Confucian gender norms—that may still shape judicial perceptions of defendants. This tension between institutional pressures and local cultural norms suggests that the role of gender in drug sentencing is likely to vary across regions.

To investigate this interplay between national policy, local context, and gendered sentencing outcomes, this study conducts a comparative analysis of two provinces: Yunnan, a border province under intense anti-drug pressure where the political imperative is dominant, and Shandong, the birthplace of Confucianism with entrenched gender norms. Using criminal judgments from China Judgments Online and quantitative analysis, the study examines gender’s influence on drug sentencing, exploring regional variation under these distinct judicial logics.

This study aims to offer empirical evidence on how distinct judicial and socio-cultural contexts shape gendered justice under China’s punitive drug regime. By contrasting Yunnan and Shandong, it moves beyond a uniform view of drug sentencing, highlighting the interplay between national policy and local norms. The findings contribute to broader discussions on sentencing disparity, judicial discretion, and the gendered consequences of global “war on drugs” in non-Western contexts.