and conciliation. The Communists established a formal court system based on the Soviet model following their victory, but ideological conflict between law specialists and cadres caused the system to break down. In the 1952 "three anti" (sān fǎn) and "five anti" (wǔ fǎn) movements, mass public trials with crowds of onlookers shouting criticisms resulted in the execution and detention of hundreds of thousands of "counterrevolutionaries" without employing the formal legal system. During the Cultural Revolution, the court system was abolished entirely and laws stopped being enacted. This resulted in community mediation systems taking on more importance. The People's Liberation Army was put in control of judging cases. Red Guard brigades often forced individuals to conduct self-criticisms and sent people to reeducation camps for being "reactionaries." With the Deng Xiaoping reforms starting at the end of the 1970s, there has been a return to socialist legality. The judicial system has been resumed and a relatively complete legal system has been established through 30 years of legislation effort, despite the overall traditional impression of China in the Western countries. The practice of 1952-1976 related to court has been abandoned. China is now trying to develop a new regime of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Law enforcement The Ministry of Public Security is the principal police authority. It is responsible for maintaining social and public order, and also for conducting investigations and arrest of suspects in criminal cases. It maintains public order in accordance with the administrative power granted by law and through the police force. It can also settle civil disputes between citizens. The People's Armed Police is a paramilitary force which is used in cases of serious disturbances. The Ministry of State Security exists as a counterespionage organ and is also used to monitor and control perceived threats to the government and party. Legal profession The Ministry of Justice of PRC governs the prison and Laogai, and it mainly focuses on regulation of the legal profession. Historically the legal profession has been insignificant in the PRC. In the late 1970s, there were no more than a couple of hundred practicing lawyers. Since the 1980s, as China's leadership became cognizant of the importance of the legal system and legal profession to advance economic development, training for lawyers dramatically increased. From 1986 to 1992, the number of lawyers in the country more than doubled from 21,500 to 45,000, and by 2008 had reached 143,000.