Labor rehabilitation system overdue for reform

A verdict on Tang Hui's case by a court in Hunan province is only of symbolic meaning, said an article in Southern Metropolis Daily (excerpts below).

Tang Hui's 11-year-old daughter was abducted and forced into prostitution in 2006 in Yongzhou, Hunan province. It took Tang seven years till Monday to win the judicial authority's support for her rightful appeal.

In the process, Tang went to complain to the provincial and central governments several times because the city court did not support her appeal and the city labor rehabilitation committee even detained her for a couple of weeks on the charge of threatening social stability.

The provincial court's judgment that Yongzhou city labor education committee will compensate her about 2,600 yuan ($413) is the first success for Tang. But the court does not support her requirement that the committee must apologize to her officially in written form.

The labor rehabilitation system, which dates back to the 1950s, is outdated and often misused, because the authorities can restrain citizens without judicial investigation or trial.

On the other hand, the cry of maintaining stability has always been used by local governments to stifle petitioners who try to complain to higher authorities about incidents that were not dealt with justly in their eyes.

Tang Hui's case has won wide support from society and the media. The central authority and judicial authority should reflect on the outdated labor rehabilitation system and the real effects of local governments' maintaining stability.

A good judicial system should reduce the cost of upholding justice and increase the price of doing evil.