Community correction system refined

China has refined its community correction system and made it more standardized in recent years, with full protection of people's legitimate rights, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said on Monday.

Community correction committees have been established in provinces, cities, counties and townships to improve the system since the Community Correction Law came into effect in July 2020, the top procuratorate said.

According to the law, community correction is implemented for criminals put under surveillance, those given probation or parole and those temporarily serving sentences outside prison.

The purpose of community correction is to eliminate factors that could lead to recidivism, help offenders become law-abiding citizens and promote their smooth integration into society through supervision, management and education, said Yang Chunlei, deputy procurator-general of the SPP.

In recent years, procuratorial organs have carried out legal supervision of all links in the system to improve community correction. Yang said they focused on areas such as the serving of sentences, whether criminals were evading supervision and administration without authorization, and the failure of related agencies to perform their duties.

From January to November last year, procuratorial organs nationwide supervised the rectification of 7,727 cases in which people escaped supervision and administration without authorization, and 5,855 cases in which people should have been put under supervision but authorities had failed to do so.

In one case, a 64-year-old criminal surnamed Cui was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in June 2015 for taking bribes in Shandong province. He was allowed to temporarily serve his sentence outside prison because he was diagnosed with stomach cancer in prison in May 2016.

He subsequently underwent surgery and chemotherapy in Shanghai and was given community correction in the city's Jinshan district. In July 2020, the district procuratorate concluded that Cui was free of cancer and asked that he be sent back to prison to serve the rest of his sentence. He was returned to prison in Shandong in November 2020.

Procuratorial organs fully protect the human rights and legitimate rights of those undergoing community correction while ensuring judicial authority and credibility are maintained, said Hou Yahui, head of the fifth procuratorial office of the SPP.