China to Further Cut Crimes Subject to Death Penalty

Posted by david on Oct 28, 2014 in Blog | 0 comments

The Dui Hua Foundation came out with its annual estimate of China’s capital punishment numbers last week and once again the country topped the world, executing more people (2,400) than the rest of the world combined (778).  (China does not publish death penalty figures.)

What is less known, however, is that it constitutes a fraction of that projected over a decade ago – 12,000 in 2002 and rates have been steadily but dramatically falling over the years.  “…(China) has executed far fewer people since the power of final review of death sentences was returned to the (Supreme People’s Court) in 2007”, the US-based rights group stated.  Just the same, other researchers warn that approximations by rights groups may be prone to “exaggeration and hyperbole”.

Yesterday, the Xinhua News Agency reported that a draft amendment to China’s criminal law proposing a further reduction of nine crimes subject to the death penalty was sent for initial review by the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.  Of the nine, five pertained to economic crimes including weapons and ammunition smuggling, smuggling of nuclear materials, counterfeiting, smuggling of fake banknotes, and fund raising through fraud.  Other crimes covered organizing and forcing prostitution, obstruction of military duties, and rumour mongering during war-time.  The vast majority of those convicted of crimes under these categories would be commuted to life imprisonment instead.

Only those found to have “gravely” violated the law during a reprieve period after initial sentencing could be executed following a Supreme People’s Court (SPC) review.  Under current laws, those sentenced to death can be executed after a review regardless of whether they’ve gravely violated the law or not.  Occasionally, there have been cases where people who were wrongfully executed were exonerated after others came forward to confess their crimes or when the supposed murder victim turned up alive.  Last June, the SPC overturned the death sentence of Ms Li Yan, a woman who had killed her abusive husband, setting a major precedent in Chinese judicial history.

This is the second time that China’s judicial authorities have proposed a reduction in capital crimes.  The last time was in 2011 when the NPC adopted an amendment to reduce crimes subject capital punishment by 13 from 68 to 55 of the original list enacted in 1979.  Later that year, the SPC also ordered lower courts to suspend death sentences for two years and “ensure that (they) only apply to a very small minority of criminals committing extremely serious crimes.”  The Southern Weekly newspaper reported that China’s top court had sent back 39% of death sentences meted out by lower courts in 2013 for additional evidence.

In contrast to many Western countries, capital punishment has widespread support in China, particularly for egregious non-political violent crimes, such as the recent sentencing of ‘All Mighty God’ cult members who beat an innocent customer to death at a McDonald’s restaurant in Zhaoyuan, Shandong and for the rash of mass killings perpetrated by Islamic extremist terrorists in Xinjiang and elsewhere.

Polls cited by Dui Hua and conducted in Beijing, Hunan and Guangdong in 2007 found 58% of respondents in favour of the death penalty but down substantially from the 95% in a 1995 survey carried out by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.  In addition, a US-based researcher points out China imposes executions primarily for their deterrent value and that publishing low execution figures would only serve to mitigate that effect.

Interviewed by the China Daily, Li Shishi, director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee which will deliberate the bill at its bi-monthly session this week, said the positive impact of the 2011 reductions paved the way for the additional cut proposals.  The draft amendment is part and parcel of the reform blueprint introduced last November that declared China would reduce the number of crimes subject to the death penalty “step by step”.  Chinese criminal law experts say the move is a requirement of ongoing judicial reforms designed to better protect human rights in China.