IN-CJ Podcast Just Arts – Xiaoye Zhang on Theatre, Criminology, and Cross-Cultural Justice

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | TuneIn | RSS

In this episode of the IN-CJ Podcast, we launch Just Arts—a new series exploring the intersections of creative arts and criminal justice—by speaking with Dr Xiaoye Zhang, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at De Montfort University, Leicester. Hosted by John Scott and co-produced with the Chinese podcast Prison Desires, this conversation sets the tone for an internationally oriented dialogue on how arts-based practices influence our understanding of punishment, rehabilitation, and social transformation.

Xiaoye’s academic journey spans Shanghai, Hong Kong, and the UK, with a background in English, applied theatre, and criminology. Her reflections are deeply shaped by her experience working across cultural and institutional contexts, offering a rare perspective on the global differences—and surprising similarities—in how justice systems use and understand punishment.

A central thread of this episode is Xiaoye’s engagement with theatre in prison settings. Drawing from her own practice and ethnographic research in Chinese correctional institutions, she discusses how drama can be seen as both a tool of rehabilitation and a mechanism of institutional control. This duality—art as liberation and as regulation—raises crucial questions about the role of culture in the carceral state.

The conversation moves across diverse terrains: from institutional ethics and academic publishing norms to the epistemological foundations of criminology in different regions. Xiaoye compares criminological practice in mainland China, Hong Kong, North America, and Europe, revealing how disciplinary boundaries and research priorities are shaped by deeper ideological and structural conditions. Her insights underscore how Western academic expectations, such as journal impact factors and research metrics, influence the kind of knowledge that is seen as legitimate—and how this differs from more legally-oriented models of criminology in China.

Xiaoye also discusses the challenges and possibilities of podcasting in China. Through her show Prison Desires, she and her co-host create a rare platform for open dialogue on criminal justice and artistic practice in a heavily regulated media environment. For her, podcasting is not just dissemination—it’s a form of public engagement that bridges the gap between academia and lived experience, particularly for Chinese audiences who may otherwise have limited access to critical criminological discourse.

This episode is more than a personal story—it’s a lens through which we can understand how justice is shaped by context, by culture, and by the tools we use to express, reform, or resist it. It reminds us that criminal justice is not a fixed system, but a dynamic set of practices that reflect and reproduce broader social values. And it opens space for reflection: How do we define a “good life” across societies? What roles do the arts play in shaping ethical responses to harm? And what can we learn from listening, not just within our borders, but across them?

As Just Arts continues, we’ll build on these themes by speaking with artists, practitioners, researchers, and people with lived experience from around the world. Each episode will offer a unique perspective on how the arts are used to work with, challenge, or reimagine criminal justice.

Listen to the podcast via Spotify / Apple / IN-CJ website and join us in broadening the conversation.

Contact us if you’d like to take part in a future episode or suggest a guest working at the intersection of justice and creativity.