Courts target corruption at lower levels

Judges to intensify punishments in attempt to eradicate bad behavior

Beijing judges vowed on Wednesday to increase their efforts to clean up corruption by intensifying punishments of officials at lower levels, where misconduct makes up the highest proportion of offenses.

The Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court, located in the western part of the capital - where there are many government departments and colleges - issued a report on Wednesday saying that 2,306 officials had been punished for misconduct since 1995, when the court was established, and of those, 1,756 were at county or lower level.