Capital punishment in China

The People's Republic of China currently uses capital punishment for a variety of crimes, ranging from tax evasion, corruption and racketeering to murder.

Procedure

Compared to some developed countries, death sentences are carried out very quickly in China. Usually the time from trial to execution is less than one year and sometimes only months. As of 2005, after a first trial (一審) concludes with a death sentence, the inmate has seven days to appeal to the provincial supreme court, which results in a second trial (二審). If the second trial concludes with a death sentence, it is carried out immediately.

China also has a unique sentence, "death sentence with two years' probation" (死緩) (but it is not universal). This sentence is generally reduced to life imprisonment after two years. It has been argued in various forums in China that the difference between a death sentence and a death sentence with two years' probation is too large, because life imprisonment usually means serving 15 to 20 years.

In the past, the government sometimes used sports stadiums as a place for sentencing criminals with the conclusion of the second trial. Large crowds would gather to witness sentencing, after which those condemned to die were led away to their execution. The condemned were tied up, with a rope around the neck to gag them should they scream or shout during the proceedings. They are allowed to wear their own clothes on the execution day. Their fate would usually be revealed to them the day before. Execution in China usually takes place around 10:00 in the morning.

In some areas of China, there is no specific execution ground. A scout team chooses a place in advance to act as the execution ground. In such case, the execution ground normally will have three perimeters: the innermost 50 m is the responsibility of the execution team; the 200 m radius from the center is the responsibility of the armed police; and the 2 km alert line is the responsibility of the local police. The public is not allowed to view the execution. However, after the execution, one would easily find the exact place of execution due to the blood that was left there.

The role of the executioner was fulfilled in the past by the People's Armed Police. In recent times, the legal police force (法警) assumed this role.

China currently uses two methods of execution. The most common is execution by firearms, which uses an assault rifle to fire a single shot of a hollow point bullet designed to expand upon impact, resulting in the disintegration of the upper portion of the brain. Lethal injection was introduced in 1997. It differs from its application in the U.S. in that it is carried out in fixed locations as well as in specially modified mobile vans. As lethal injection becomes more common, debate has intensified over the fairness of relying on lethal injection to execute high officials convicted of corruption while ordinary criminals get executed by firearms. It is public opinion in China that lethal injection is an easier way for the condemned to die.

In the past the government collected a "bullet fee (子彈費)" from the relatives of the condemned.

Capital punishment in China can be politically or socially influenced. In 2003, a local court sentenced the leader of a triad organization to a death sentence with two years of probation. However, the public opinion was that the sentence was too light. Under public pressure, the supreme court of China took the case and retried the leader, resulting in a death sentence which was carried out immediately.

The Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau have separate judiciaries and local laws and do not have capital punishment. This has created a barrier to the creation of proper extradition laws between the SARs and the mainland. It is quite a concern to many residents of the SARs that in many crimes with concurrent jurisdiction the central authorities have claimed the right to try, and potentially sentence to die, residents of Hong Kong and Macau.

Notable facts

In China there is a fairly large number of women executed compared to other nations that impose the death penalty. Many international stories on the death sentence in China focus on the execution of women, as does much of the photographic documentation of the public display of condemned prisoners as well as leaked documentation of executions themselves. Some commentators have noted the irony of targeting this aspect of capital punishment as a principal form of abuse of judicial power in China, when in fact the execution of large numbers of women appears due to the liberal principle of treating men and women equally under the law.

Although the exact numbers of people executed in China is classified as a state secret, many death penalty cases were posted publicly by the judiciary on message boards after the sentence was carried out; such postings were quite distinguishable from others by a big red tick near the bottom.

It is claimed that China currently executes more people each year than the rest of the world put together. According to Amnesty International, at least 3,400 people were executed in 2004. This is 90% of the reported world total. A senior Chinese legislator suggested in March 2004 that China executes "nearly 10,000" people each year [1].

The philosophy behind the application of capital punishment in China can best be understood from a famous line often attached to official news reports in death penalty cases: "If capital punishment is not applied, it would not be enough to calm the anger of the people. (不殺不足以平民憤)"

The state controlled media, Xinhua News Agency, reported in March 2005 that the court has shown a human touch by allowing the execution of a condemned person to be delayed for one day so that he can have the chance to see his family one last time and bid them farewell.

It is claimed that organs from executed criminals may be used for transplantation ([2], see FAQ).

Future of Capital Punishment in China

At a diplomatic event in Germany, senior Chinese state officials commented that China, in the long run, will eventually abolish the death penalty.

In 2004, senior judicial officials issued an instruction to judges urging them to use the death penalty with caution.

As of 2004 and 2005, state controlled media in China has reported that the government took back the final approval authority for capital punishment from the provincial supreme courts to the Supreme People's Court. Such authority has been delegated from the Supreme People's Court to the High People's Courts since February 12, 1980.

Criticism of Capital Punishment in China

Several features of capital punishment in China have drawn international criticism even from proponents of the death penalty in liberal states.

• First of all, pressure placed on local and regional bureaucracies under the auspices of the "Strike Hard" campaigns has led to the streamlining of capital cases; cases are investigated, cases and appeals are heard, and sentences carried out at rates much more rapid than in other states with developed judicial systems ostensibly based on liberal principles.
• Capital punishment in China is not applied on a uniform basis. At times, the government will have so-called "strike-hard" (嚴打) campaigns aiming to warn the public against committing certain crimes. During such times, the courts will adopt a so-called "act fast, act hard" (從快從重) posture and will hand down punishment more severely and quickly.
• Secondly, capital punishment is applied flexibly to a wide range of crimes, some of which are punishable by death in no other judicial system in the world. Economic crimes such as tax fraud have appeared routinely among the dockets of those receiving the death sentence, as have relatively small-scale drug offenses. Death is also frequently imposed on repeat offenders whose individual crimes would be considered relatively minor in most judicial systems, such as non-violent theft or causing incidental bodily harm that is not life threatening or debilitating. Capital punishment is also imposed on inchoate crimes, that is, attempted crimes which are not actually fully carried out, including repeat offenses such as attempted theft or attempted fraud. The recidivistic nature of the offenses, not their seriousness per se, is what is adjudicated to merit the capital sentence. One could hardly fail to note certain similarities between the executions of repeat offenders in China as part of the "Strike Hard" campaigns and the "three strikes" policy in California which puts repeat offenders behind bars for life even if individual offenses have been relatively minor.
• Finally, capital punishment in China can be imposed on crimes against symbols and treasures of the state, such as theft of cultural relics and the killing of pandas.

See also

• Capital punishment in Taiwan

External links

• (A site that monitors the death penalty situation in China)
• Olympic Watch (Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games in a Free and Democratic Country) on death penalty in China
• Executed “according to law”? The death penalty in China
• The Chinese Human Rights Web
• Asia Death Penalty blog monitors the use of the death penalty in Asia, including in PR of China