A blue paper issued Monday called for the Chinese government to reform the country's labor camp system, or Laojiao, labeling it outdated and a major threat to citizens' freedom.

Tang Hui (R), the mother who petitioned courts and local government officials for tougher penalties for her daughter's captors, was sentenced to 18 months in a labor camp, but was released after only eight days following a public outcry.

According to the Annual Report on China's Political Development (2013) released by the Institute of Political Science of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the labor camp system in its current form is antithetical to the idea of procedural justice, because the police can investigate and pass judgment on a case without the supervision of either the court or procuratorate.

The current system is aimed at offenders whose activities constitute a minor violation of the law but not a criminal offence and allows the police to detain suspects for up to four years, a term which often eclipses those handed down for criminal violations.

The report called attention to a number of recent high-profile instances where the abuse of the labor camp system has sparked heated public debate about whether or not the controversial system should be abolished.

In 2012, Tang Hui, the mother who petitioned courts and local government officials for tougher penalties for her daughter's captors, was sentenced to 18 months in a labor camp. Tang was released after only eight days following a public outcry.

In 2011, Ren Jianyu, a young village official in Chongqing, was given a two-year term in a labor camp for spreading "negative information" and inciting the subversion of state power. Ren was released in November 2012 after serving more than half of his sentence.

The Chinese government promised to push the reform of the labor camp system at a national political and legal work conference on January 7, 2013.

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