NCJ Number
174266
Journal
American Jails Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: July/August 1998 Pages: 87-93
Date Published
1998
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article reviews changes in the Chinese criminal justice system.
Abstract
Chinese jails historically were places for punishment, torment and torture; treatment and reform of prisoners were never even considered. Starting about 1945, China began efforts to reform high political figures, followed by reform of bandits, local tyrants and counterrevolutionaries. The government promulgated laws stipulating the reform of prisoners through labor, and adopted a policy that blended labor production with ideological education, made prisoners self-supporting and law abiding and helped find jobs for those discharged from prison. Correctional policy in China.today is based on the belief that offenders do not commit crimes as the result of a hereditary predisposition to criminal behavior but as a consequence of outside information and influences. Offenders must be separated from former bad contacts and must receive social assistance and education, participate in work-study programs and attempt to change his or her psychological outlook.