An injunction that seeks to prevent people from repeating a past offense is beginning to pick up steam in China.

On Tuesday last week, the People's Court of Xuanwu District in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, sentenced a 25-year-old woman to probation for having knowingly and repeatedly been overdrawn on her credit card. She was also forbidden from applying for or using a credit card and from making major purchases during the probation period, reported ce.cn, the website of Beijing-based Economic Daily.

On the same day, the People's Court of Jinshui district in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, issued an injunction to four male college students, acting as a restraining order that prevents them from getting close to two other male students they had beaten up during a probation period, the local Orient Today said Monday.

Other places including Jining in Shandong Province and Haiyan county in Zhejiang Province have also issued injunctions, according to Xinhua.

The origin of this new-found legal affection can be traced to the amendment to China's criminal law, passed on May 1, which states that the injunctions may now be handed down to criminals already under probation.

"Many Western countries have such injunctions used on a wider variety of criminals. China is just adapting to international standards," Liu Jianyong, a lawyer with Shandong Zhongcheng Renhe Law Firm, told the Global Times Monday.

Liu said that such injunctions could help prevent criminals from reoffending and hasten their rehabilitation.

Lin Hongshi, director of case management for the People's Procuratorate of Jining's central district, told Xinhua that the injunctions must not disrupt the normal lives of those they targeted.

However, many people doubt the feasibility and effect of the injunctions.

With regard to the credit card case, "it is hard to judge if a commodity qualifies as being expensive," Li Xinrong, a 27-year-old office worker in Beijing, told the Global Times Monday.

"Injunctions, to a large extent, serve as psychological intervention to criminals. It deters them from repeating the same mistakes," Li said.