What to Make of the Abolition of Re-Education Through Labour?

Abstract

In 1979 two of the first laws to be passed in the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) era of reform and opening up were the Criminal Law (Xing Fa) and the Criminal Procedure Law (Xingshi Susong Fa) 1979. Whilst a number of legislative instruments had been in place prior to 1979 that authorised arrest and criminal punishment, this was the first time in the history of the PRC that comprehensive codes of criminal law and procedure had been passed. Of course, the lack of legislation had not prevented the dispensation of criminal justice.