The country's community-corrections system already has a footing in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province, with 3,689 inmates in the program since 2010, Lanzhou Evening News reported on Dec 18.

The Lanzhou city bureau of justice reported that from 2010 through November 2013, the program has accepted 3,689 inmates.

"After the repealing of the re-education-through-labor system and the increasing use of probation, more and more criminals who committed small offenses will go into community corrections," said Li Yingjun, director of the community correction division of the city's justice bureau.