Projects hint at reform of mainland's re-education through labour policy
Re-education through labour on the mainland is unlikely to be scrapped any time soon, but four pilot projects hint at reform of the controversial penal system
Pilot projects in four mainland cities could foreshadow a scaling back of re-education through labour, the five-decade-old punishment widely criticised as unconstitutional and frequently abused.
The four cities - Nanjing in Jiangsu , Lanzhou in Gansu , Zhengzhou in Henan and Jinan in Shandong - are piloting an "education and correction of violations" system to replace re-education through labour, which allows police to lock up anyone they see fit for up to four years without trial, China National Radio has reported.
Nanjing has formed a task force to set up an education and correction of violations committee, headed by a deputy mayor who is also the city's police chief. Other members include officials from the bureaus of justice and civil affairs, the courts and the procuratorate.
"It can be deemed a loosening of control of the forced labour system," said lawyer Li Fangping , who, along with nine other lawyers, sent the Department of Justice an open letter last month calling for a more transparent hearing process for re-education through labour.
"The reform would scrap forced labour and replace it with education in the community for some offenders. A total loss of freedom changed to restricted personal freedom - it's progress."
The re-education through labour regime was introduced by Mao Zedong in 1957 to deal with petty criminals and was nearly phased out during the Cultural Revolution. However, it was reintroduced in the 1980s and has expanded ever since, often being abused for political ends or the silencing of dissent.