The metropolis is leading the nation in establishing a city-wide legal system designed to cut down on crime by enlisting the help of the community, a senior local judicial official said yesterday.

"Under the system, some criminals will serve their sentences in the community rather than being put into prison,'' said Miao Xiaobao, director of the Shanghai Judicial Bureau.

It is a positive measure that the city government is taking to help criminals who don't need to go to prison to have their criminal attitudes and behaviour corrected, by having them supervised within their own communities under the guidance of judicial authorities and with the help of volunteers.

The three-tier system, which involves city-level institution, districts and neighbourhoods, will be completed within three to five years to create a more stable and safer environment for local residents, said Wu Zhiming, a local senior official in charge of the city's police, court, prosecutorial and judicial work.

"We believe the new system will help cut down the crime level,'' Wu said.

One of China's six provinces and municipalities designated to try the system, Shanghai is already experimenting with it in some selected districts, with the hope of being able to institute the system city-wide early next year.

"It accords with practices followed by a number of countries around the world, where some criminals are allowed to serve out their sentences in their communities,'' Miao said.

Statistics gathered in 2000 showed more than 70 per cent of the criminals in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Germany served their sentences outside prison. The percentage in South Korea and Russia was 46 per cent and 44 per cent, respectively.

"China is far behind all of them, at 16.7 per cent,'' he said.

According to Wu, a research project the city conducted from July to September last year indicated that social instability is inevitable if there is no system to decrease and eliminate crime.

"It is not enough to just give heavy penalties for criminal acts,'' he said at a judicial working conference held yesterday.

For the past 20 years, the city has been striking hard against crime, but "crime is still on the rise,'' Wu said.

Under the planned economy, China relied heavily on its strict residence registration system to manage the population and keep society in order.

"But the registration system is gradually disintegrating as the market economy takes over. We need a new approach to cut down on crime,'' Wu said.

Local legal authorities say that correction of criminal behaviour and mentality within the community can complement the reform work going on in the city's prisons.

Whether or not criminals qualify for reform within the community must be decided judicially by the courts, according to a document issued by the Shanghai judicial bureau.

The city will set up a community service centre this month to employ workers to take part in community judicial work.

They will be required to provide services and assistance for criminals who are serving their sentences in the community and for those who have served their sentences and have been released from prison, said Miao.

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