WASHINGTON JOURNAL OF MODERN CHINA Administrative incarceration:the laojiao system In analyzing China's criminal justice system,one must first ask what constitutes such a system.Under Chinese law,the police have the discretion to decide,without any judicial proceeding,to send a person to laodong jiaoyang(or laojiao)for "reeducation through labor"for up to three years.According to official sources,in 1997,some 230,000 people were held in such labor camps throughout China. See 1999 U.S.State Department,Human Rights Report Concerning the PRC,issued February 25,2000,p.8. 6WASHINGTON JOURNAL OF MODERN CHINA 6 Administrative incarceration: the laojiao system In analyzing China’s criminal justice system, one must first ask what constitutes such a system. Under Chinese law, the police have the discretion to decide, without any judicial proceeding, to send a person to laodong jiaoyang (or laojiao) for “reeducation through labor” for up to three years. According to official sources, in 1997, some 230,000 people were held in such labor camps throughout China.9 9See 1999 U.S. State Department, Human Rights Report Concerning the PRC, issued February 25, 2000, p. 8