|
|
Juvenile offenders 'need more training' |
 |
+ |
- |
10:29, July 05, 2007 |
Young offenders should be given more training in occupational skills during time spent in re-education-through-labor camps, experts said.
The Beijing Youth Daily said daily manual labor by youths at the camp, also known as laojiao, has been cut from eight hours to three hours.
"I cannot see how cutting the enforced labor hours is a solution to tackling the system's flaws," Wang Gongyi, deputy director of the Institute of Justice Research affiliated to the Ministry of Justice, said yesterday.
"But, it is a step forward in improving the treatment of minor offenders," he added.
The laojiao system has triggered much controversy because of the lack of proper judicial procedures.
Adopted in 1957 and designed as an administrative measure to combat minor crimes, laojiao has contributed to a much lower crime rate.
"Laojiao is a middle punishment for those who violate social order but not seriously enough to warrant a prison sentence," Wang said. He is at present working on a draft law on correction of illegal acts, a possible substitute to laojiao.
The laojiao is a simplified system giving the power to sentence only to public security departments.
These departments decide the guilt or innocence of a person and the length of sentence without going through any legal procedure.
"Lack of legal procedures means the system is open to wrongful decisions," Hu Xingdou, a scholar, said.
Training in occupational skills is gradually being adopted by laojiao, but experts want more emphasis placed on it. Re-educated people form a useful channel to supply the labor force, they said.
Currently, China has 310 laojiao camps holding about 400,000 people.
Source: China Daily
|
|
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article