Penal system in China
The penal system in the People's Republic of China is composed of an administrative detention system and a judicial incarceration system. As of 2020, it is estimated that 1.7 million people had been incarcerated in the People's Republic of China, which is the second-highest prison population after the United States, thus as China has approx. 4-times more inhabitants than the US, the US prison population is more than four times higher per capita than in China. China also retains the use of the death penalty with the approval of the Supreme People's Court, and there is a system of death penalty with reprieve in which the sentence is suspended unless the convict commits another major crime within two years while they are detained.
History
Penal labor was formalized in the 1950s, soon after the Chinese Communist Party won the Chinese Civil War. According to historian John Delury, "Communist penal theory fused traditional Confucian and Buddhist notions of transformation with Soviet techniques."The Prison Law of the People's Republic of China was enacted on December 20, 1994. Since then, the Chinese prison system has operated under supervision of the Bureau of Prison Administration which falls under the Ministry of Justice.
Prison enterprises
All prisons in China operate businesses which they use to fund their operations. Prison officers can earn bonuses for financial and business performance.Population
The prisons which were managed by the Ministry of Justice held 1,649,804 prisoners in mid-2015, resulting in a population rate of 118 per 100,000. Adding the number of detainees in Ministry of Public Security's detention centers of 650,000 reported at 2009, would result a total population of 2,300,000, and raise the rate to 164 per 100,000.In the same report, it is noted that female prisoners account for about 6.5%, juvenile for 0.8% and foreigners for 0.4% of the total prisoners population in Ministry of Justice's facilities.
Investigative detentions
Public security departments, People's Procuratorates, People's Courts and Supervisory Commissions can issue detention orders, and the detainees are usually held in facilities managed by public security departments, though supervisory commissions usually take care of their own detainees. State security department have similar rights and functions as public security departments.Delegates of the congress or local people's congress above county-level during their term are exempt from detention or criminal prosecution without prior approval from the standing committee of the corresponding legislature. Chinese police and security services routinely make use of torture to obtain confessions and information from detainees.
Administrative
officers can summon civilians for investigative purposes, and can use force when a civilian refuses to cooperate and when approved by a superior officer. Public Security Administration Punishment Law states police should not question citizen on grounds authorized exceed eight hours, unless the citizen has violation that could result in administrative detention, in which case, the questioning could be extended to 24 hours. Criminal Procedure Law states the police should not question someone for more than twelve hours, unless that someone is a major suspect of a crime, in which case it could be extended to twenty four hours.If the police found enough evidence for a crime, they can submit it to a procurator and ask permission for arrest, or if there is limited evidence or considered misdemeanor, they can impose administrative detention for up to fourteen days.
State Security officers have similar rights and authorities as Public Security officers.
Procuratorial
The procuratorates can approve arrest when there is a reasonable ground with requests from the police or sometimes on their own for public-servants-related crimes they investigate, after which the suspect is placed into Criminal detention, which can last for two months, and with approval from superior office, can be extended to seven months.Judicial
The people's courts can summon citizens and with approval from its Chief Judge, detain those who disrupt judicial process or refuse to cooperate. Judicial detention be as long as fourteen days, usually under facilities of public security departments. It is authorized on different grounds in Criminal Procedure Law, Civil Procedure Law and Administrative Procedure Law.Supervisory
The supervisory commissions can detain civil servants and politicians who are suspected of corruption when they have reasonable amount of evidence. Detentions must be approved by a superior commission or the national commission.Political detention, or Liuzhi, can be applied for up to three month, which can be extended once for up to three month when approved from a superior commission. Civil servants detained are not always allowed to see anyone, including their lawyer. This is authorized under ''Supervision Law.''Penalties
Administrative
The public security and state security departments are the two departments under the administrative branch that can limit one's freedom. For violation of the Public Security Administration Penalty Law, the police can impose penalties on their own, though those detained can file administrative review to its supervising department or file an administrative lawsuit to a court.In American and British English, this law’s title would translate to the Police Penalties Act; it is an Act of the National People's Congress that prescribes penalties such as fines and detention to be administered by police.
The act’s 2025 revision sets out the statute’s overall purpose and scope. Its general provisions state that the law is intended to maintain public order, protect public safety and legal rights, and set standards for how law enforcement agencies and the police exercise their powers. It distinguishes between conduct that constitutes a crime, which is handled under China’s Criminal Law act, and conduct that does not meet criminal thresholds, which is handled through police penalties under this law.
Administrative detention for misdemeanors outlined in Administrative Penalty Law for up to twenty days. Teenagers of sixteen years old or less and women who are pregnant or feeding an infant less than one years old are exempt. Teenagers aged sixteen to eighteen are exempt from their first misdemeanor.
Compulsory rehabilitation may be imposed on drug addicts who refuse or failed community rehabilitation or who began to reuse after previous community rehabilitation for a duration of two years ordinarily. Public security department issue the order for compulsory rehabilitation. Rehabilitation centers are often run by the public security department and, in some places, the judicial administrative department. There are concerns that this may give the public security organ too much power with little or no oversight. The effectiveness of compulsory rehabilitation is also questioned, and it is more often seen as a deterrence rather than rehabilitation.
Judicial
For those who are prosecuted and found guilty, the court may sentence them to following penalties that limit one's freedom in accordance with the law:Public surveillance or Guanzhi requires no jail time, and the convicted can return to his community immediately but must report their activities to the local police department or judicial administrative department regularly for the duration designated by the court from a minimum three months to a maximum two years, and with multiple crimes combined sentencing can reach three years. Guanzhi also require one's freedom of speech, association, publishing, protest etc. be limited unless approved by the designated reporting agency, though one can still vote and hold public offices. For those under Guanzhi, right to equal pay at work is protected by law.
Criminal detention or Juyi range from one month to six months in a place near one's residence, overseen by the local police department and the convicted is allowed return home one or two days per month. They may need to work while detained and will receive some pay.
Fixed-term imprisonment will range from six months to fifteen years, or when guilty of multiple crimes, the maximum will be twenty years or the combined sentenced time, whichever is less. If reduced from death penalty, the term will be twenty five years. If reduced from life imprisonment, the term will be twenty years.
Life imprisonment can almost always be reduced to fixed-term, though total time served must be no less than ten years. Life without parole was enacted into the Criminal Law on Dec 11, 2015, is applicable to those convicted with embezzlement.
Death penalty with two years reprieve will be commuted to life imprisonment if the convicted did not commit another serious crime within the two-year period or fixed-term imprisonment if the convicted helped solve a major crime or contributed the society greatly. Death penalty with reprieve, without parole can be automatically reduced to life without parole if another crime is not committed within the two-year period, from which point the sentence can no longer be commuted.
Death penalty with immediate execution must be approved by the Supreme People's Court. The death penalty is not applicable to pregnant women, minors, and in most cases, seniors more than 70 years old. If a woman is found pregnant anytime while detained or incarcerated before execution, even if she miscarried, the execution will be cancelled and the sentence reverted, and the court must redetermine an appropriate sentence.
If sentenced to imprisonment of any kind, pre-trial time detained will be deducted from the actual time needed to serve, and for those sentenced to public surveillance, one day detained will be count as two days served.