Re-education through labor, a kind of administrative penalty, will be subject to reform this year, according to a national legal work conference convened on Monday in Beijing.

This decision should obviously be lauded, as the punishment, which can deprive a person of his or her personal freedom on the decision of a public security department, has long been controversial.

There is no denying re-education through labor has a role for those who have committed offenses that are not serious enough for jail sentences. But its use, if not tightly supervised, is likely to infringe upon the rights of those subject to it. This explains why some strongly maintain that the system be abolished.