Incarceration of women
Within the last decade, the rate of incarceration for women in China has increased by 46%. Women make up only 6% of the total population of individuals in prison within the country. While it is difficult to correctly evaluate the statistic regarding the total number of women incarcerated due to the underreporting of these cases, China is on track to imprison more women than the United States.
Human rights in China
The Chinese government has a history of imprisoning citizens for political reasons. Article 73 of China’s Criminal Procedure Law was adopted in 2012 and allow the authorities to detain people for reasons of “state security” or “terrorism.” In this regard Detainees can be held for as long as six months in “designated locations” such as secret prisons.