20,000 to be free of criminal stigma in Nanjing

SHANGHAI: More than 20,000 people in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, will not have to bear a record of their criminal past in their residency permits from now on. The decision was made by the city's government to stop discrimination against those booked for crimes committed before 2003.

Previously, criminals released after serving a sentence would have a record of their crimes in hukou, or residency permit, as a reprimand for the errors committed. The Ministry of Public Security, however, scrapped the rule in August 2003, in a bid to make life easier for this group of people and protect their interests after completion of punishment.

But those who committed crimes before 2003 would still have to face insurmountable obstacles before they could go back to a normal social life.