г
10
Re-education.*
This
directive was promulgated with the formal approval of the NPC Standing Committee and therefore has a higher status than ordinary regulations of the State Council. According to Fu Ge, writing in Law Science Monthly, many regulations and directives concerning Labor Re-education have been issued since 1957.(4) However, among these only the Provisional Labor Re-education
Measures.
general
without
(勞動教養試行辦法
effect.
) have
The Measures were issued internally
promulgation by the Public Security Ministry in 1982 after receiving State Council approval. Fu Ge argues that without promulgation the Measures were never properly brought into legal effect. Nonetheless they are reportedly in general use by public security authorities throughout
China.
detention
The State Council Decision of 1957 included the
counter-revolutionary
of
"minor
and
anti-socialist reactionary elements who have been expelled
study." The Public Security altered the purpose of Labor
by their units of work or
Ministry's Measures of 1982
Re-education to include, "counter revolutionary or anti-party, anti-socialist elements whose illegal conduct
does
not warrant criminal sanction".
'anti-party' and 'anti-socialist'
Fu Ge points out that
conduct are political
rather than legal terms and are not contained in the Criminal law or the Administrative Penalty Regulations. He concludes that most Labor Re-education detentions in the past 30 years have been for offenses involving "reactionary or backward thought" where no actual harm to the state occurred. On the basis of Fu Ge's remarks and other
*
Labor Re-education should not be confused with Labor Reform which is a sanction imposed under criminal law.