Today, the The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist passed a “Decision” in which the long existing and highly controversial “re-education through labor system (laojiao)” is announced to be abolished as part of a major effort to protect human rights.
*The re-education through labor system (laojiao) was created in the mid-1950s as an administrative punishment for minor crimes. The power to impose laojiao on designated offenders without trial has been under the exclusive jurisdiction of the police since its creation.
