Definition
徒刑 is a legal term for imprisonment as a criminal penalty in Chinese law. It can be fixed-term (有期徒刑) or life (无期徒刑), and is more serious than 拘留 (detention) or 拘役 (criminal detention). The older gloss 'forced labor' is misleading in modern usage — 徒刑 primarily denotes confinement in a prison, often with mandatory labor, but it's the punishment itself, not just the labor component.
n.
(legal) imprisonment (as a criminal penalty, either fixed-term or life)
Examples
- 徒刑。Tā bèi pàn le shí nián tú xíng.He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.
- 徒刑。Wúqī túxíng shì zuì yánzhòng de tú xíng zhī yī.Life imprisonment is one of the most severe forms of imprisonment.
- 徒刑。Zhège zuìfàn bèi pànchù le chángqī tú xíng.This criminal was sentenced to long-term imprisonment.
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