China Tightens Rules on Cutting Prison Terms Short After Outcry Over ‘On-Paper Sentences’

China’s top judicial and law enforcement authorities have jointly issued new rules urging stricter management and review of prisoners’ applications for parole and sentence reduction, after public outcry over cases of criminals serving “on-paper sentences.”

The guiding opinion (link in Chinese) aims to ensure that such cases are handled in a fair and just manner with “strict regulation” and “strengthened substantive hearings,” the authorities, including the Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Public Security, said in the document published Wednesday.