  We formulate the most-general time-dependent decay distributions of $B_s\to
J/\psi (\to l^+l^-) \phi(\to K^+K^-)$ in which the direct CP violation is
explicitly incorporated. We then investigate the $B \to J/\psi V$ decays in the
perturbative QCD approach where $V$ is a light vector meson. Apart from the
leading-order factorizable contributions, we also take into account various QCD
corrections and the hard-spectator diagrams. With the inclusion of these
sizable corrections, our theoretical results for CP-averaged branching ratios,
polarization fractions, CP-violating asymmetries, and relative phases are in
good consistency with the available data. Based on the global agreement, we
further explore the penguin contributions and point out that the $\phi_s$
extracted from $B_s\to J/\psi \phi$ can be shifted away by ${\cal O}(10^{-3})$.
