Research On Issues Related To Labor Rights Protection Of Offenders Under Community Correction

Labor has been playing an extremely important role in the development ofhuman society. From the perspective of the whole development process of humansociety, labor is the catalyst for human development and social progress; from theperspective of personal growth, labor is the only means for the subsistence anddevelopment of citizens. Moreover, labor is also endowed with a special meaning bythe emergence of laws and justice. Since ancient times，labor has always been animportant measure for educating and transforming offenders.For which labor rights,as an important component of human rights,especially the labor rights of the criminal,have been drawing much attention.Amendment to Criminal Law (VIII) issued in2011defines the legal significanceand status of community correction in the form of law, in which CommunityCorrection emerges in articles of law for the first time. Not only is this a summary ofChina’s practices on community correction in the last decade, this is also a significantchange in China’s penalty system and implementation system, which certainly adaptsto the international trend of socialization of penalty. Measures for the Implementationof Community Correction issued in2012poses unified regulations on works ofcommunity correction, for which system of community correction is formallytransformed from a working mechanism to a system of penalty execution. As a veryspecial group, offenders under Community correction are criminals, but not in prison,they need to self-employment like ordinary citizens, or to the labor market to findjobs, but their actions and rights and subject to many restrictions. For offenders undercommunity correction, labor is both the means for making a living and the importantcarrier for education and correction. How to position offenders under communitycorrection? How to grant them rights and impose restrictions in a reasonable way?How to give them protection and relief? These questions are worthy of thought.Whether in discussions on theory or judicial practice, high-level attention has beenpaid to issues related to labor rights of prisoners, but there were few researches onissues related to labor rights of offenders under community correction outside prisons.In this paper, the concept of labor rights of offenders under community correction is defined, and the theoretical and practical meaning for strengthening theguarantee of their labor rights are discussed from the perspective of labor rights ofoffenders under community correction. Based on the basic contents of labor rightsand the special attributes of offenders under community correction, a detailed analysison types, characteristics and contents of their labor rights. The current situation oflegislation and judicial practice is summarized and analyzed to seek the legislativeand social factors restricting the protection of their labor rights; the problem of how toestablish a labor rights system for them, which conforms to the conditions of China,is considered; and then suggestions are proposed from the perspective of integrationof laws, labor guarantee system and system of community correction works.From a legal perspective, it should be defined firstly that offenders undercommunity correction are laborers, who should enjoy labor rights as other laborers;secondly, offenders under community correction are criminals, whose labor rights areincomplete. How to grant them labor rights and impose restrictions is the key tosolving issues related to their labor rights protection, which also reflects theshortcomings in China’s existing legislation on their labor rights, namely thatrestrictions are stressed while grant of rights is ignored. Therefore, in order tostrengthen the guarantee of labor rights of offenders under community correction, theexisting legal norm should be straightened out under unified thought on legislation, inwhich omission should be reduced and conflicts should be overcome, and thus anintegral legal system will be established. Labor Law should fully play its role and beimplemented in a careful and explicit way as much as possible in a permissible range;relevant laws and supporting systems, such as social works, should be improved toprovide a guarantee for the realization of labor rights of offenders under communitycorrection. In summary, the only way to solve these issues is to establish laws andsystems for guaranteeing labor rights of offenders under community correction.