China passes community correction law
Xinhua
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File photo: CGTN

BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature Saturday adopted a law on community correction.

The law was approved at the end of a six-day bimonthly session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

Community correction targets criminals who were sentenced to public surveillance, given a reprieve, released on parole, or permitted to temporarily serve their sentences outside prison, says the law.

The law aims to advance and standardize community correction work, help the subjects better re-integrate into society and prevent and reduce crime, says the law.

Although the law, which will take effect on July 1, 2020, is China's first law on community correction, the country began community correction pilot programs in 2003 and initiated trial implementation nationwide in 2009.

About 4.78 million people have undergone or are undergoing community corrections since 2003, said Jiang Aidong, head of the community correction administration under the Ministry of Justice, at a press conference after the session.

"The recidivism rate was only about 0.2 percent," said Wang Aili with the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, at the press conference.