Shanghai's crime recidivism rate in 2020 lower than national average

Shanghai's recidivism rate of criminals who were in community correction in 2020 was 0.09 percent, significantly lower than the nation's 0.2 percent, the city's justice bureau said on Wednesday.

A total of seven districts in Shanghai achieved zero recidivism last year. Among them, Xuhui District has had no offender from community correction recommitting crimes for eight consecutive years, the bureau said.

Community correction targets criminals who are sentenced to public surveillance, given a reprieve, released on parole, or permitted to temporarily serve their sentences outside prison, according to the China's first law on community correction which took effect on July 1 last year.

The city's justice authorities, including the high court, supreme procuratorate, public security bureau and justice bureau, jointly released the rules of implementation in August after the law took effect. 

It became the first provincial implementation rule nationwide, providing guarantees for effective community correction.

Shanghai has been piloting community corrections since August 2002 and was ahead of the national program which started in 2003. A total of 130,000 criminals have been released so far.

At present, there are more than 8,600 people registered for community correction in Shanghai, and more than 13,000 people have been corrected in the whole year. 

Among them, over 8,300 were on probation, over 230 were temporarily placed outside prison, over 40 were released on parole, and over 10 were under control.

Full-time cadres, police officers, social workers and social volunteers are currently engaged in community corrections.