Chen Jiping, with the China Law Society, explains reasons why the laojiao system is abolished. First, the legal system is relatively mature. For instance, offenders such as drug users can now be punished under the Anti-Drug Law. Second, in recent years, community corrections have grown significantly and yielded good results when rehabilitating juvenile offenders or those whose offenses are not serious enough to be prosecuted according to Criminal Law. Misdemeanors can be punished according to the Law on Penalties for Administration of Public Security, he said.

Starting from the beginning of this year, moves have been taken by central authorities to push reform of the laojiao system. In January, a national conference on political and legal works put the process as a priority for 2013.

In March, one of the first promises made by then newly elected Premier Li Keqiang was that China would work out a plan to reform the laojiao system by the end of this year—the first time a clear timetable had been offered.

In October, Zhou Qiang, President of the Supreme People's Court, China's top judicial body, urged courts nationwide to "take concerted action" in aiding laojiao reform by streamlining court hearing procedures for minor offenses and promoting the use of community correction to better rehabilitate criminals.

Finally, the CPC Central Committee included into its detailed reform plans the decision to abolish laojiao.

The document also called for improving laws relating to correction and punishment. Community correction programs that help former prisoners return to society will also be improved, according to its stipulations.

Seeking alternatives

Although the Party has decided to abolish the laojiao system, the official end of the penalty can come no earlier than late December, experts said.

"Officially ending the system also requires the top legislature to declare the 1957 decision invalid," said Jiang Ming'an, a law professor with Peking University. "This will make it possible to terminate the program as early as late December, when the NPC Standing Committee is scheduled to open its next bi-monthly meeting."

Ma, with the China University of Political Science and Law, stressed the importance of a legal basis in ending laojiao. "Abolishment is easy, but without legal measures and institutional restrictions, an alternative that is little more than laojiao in disguise could potentially arise," he said.

In response to concerns that the disbanding of laojiao might mean some offenders will go unpunished for their misconducts, Di Yingqi, Dean of the Law School at Henan University of Economics and Law, said that such worries are unwarranted because existing laws are enough to punish offenses.

Di said that Criminal Law has both light and heavy penalties for minor crimes, including public surveillance and detention, a punishment under which a person's freedom can be deprived for a minimum of six months or a maximum of three years. He said that if deprivation of personal freedom is too serious for some minor crimes, public surveillance could serve as an alternative.

Chen Zhonglin, with Chongqing University, said that optional penalties, including community correction, will enable law enforcement officers to punish wrongdoers through other means. He also suggested re-considering the suspended Illegal Acts Correction Law to fill the gap between ordinary illegal acts and crimes.

In February 2005, the 10th NPC Standing Committee announced that the Illegal Acts Correction Law had been listed on the annual legislative plan. However, no more progress was seen until March 2010 when the top legislature declared the same plan again.

"Till today, the draft has been perfected in regards to individuals receiving correction, time limits, places and procedures, and is ready to be read again," Chen Zhonglin said.

Ma suggested shortening the time limit of correctional procedures, building more correctional facilities and perfecting application and implementation procedures so as to guarantee basic human rights for people that are undergoing a correctional process.

According to Ma, China started pilot programs for community corrections in 2003 and put the system under a nationwide trial in 2009.

The core issue regarding community corrections is improving the educational and correctional aspects of China's justice system. If needed, training and employment guidance should also be provided for those involved in community corrections, according to the Measures for the Implementation of Community Corrections, which was put into effect in January 2012 by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice.

So far about 620,000 offenders are in the program and the re-offending rate remains at 0.2 percent.

According to Hu, with the Beijing Institute of Technology, the correction system is not a replacement for laojiao but is a supplementary effort when handling judicial punishments for minor violations.

"The laojiao system holds people in custody without trials, while the correction system punishes people with court judgments," Hu said.

Email us at: yinpumin@bjreview.com