Capital punishment in China

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Capital punishment is a legal penalty in China. It is applicable to offenses ranging from murder to drug trafficking.[1] Executions are carried out by lethal injection or by shooting.[2][3][4] A survey conducted by The New York Times in 2014 found the death penalty retained widespread support in Chinese society.[5]

Capital punishment is used in most East Asian countries and territories, including Japan, North Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, and Taiwan.[6][7][8][9] According to Amnesty International, China executes more people than all other countries combined.[10] The exact numbers of executions and death sentences are not publicly available, being considered a state secret by China.[11] According to the U.S.-based Dui Hua Foundation, the estimated number of executions has declined steadily in the twenty-first century, from 12,000 each year to 2,400.[12] However, in 2022 the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty announced that since 2007 at least 8,000 people per year were executed in China.[13] Since 2006, the Chinese government has taken effective measures to limit use of the death penalty,[14] proclaiming that it is doing this with the aim of completely abolishing it.[15]

Capital punishment in China should not be confused with death sentence with reprieve, which is a form of lenient sentencing that is handed down by Chinese courts as frequently as, or more often than, actual death sentences.[16] Death sentence with reprieve is used to emphasize the seriousness of the crime and the mercy of the court, and is sometimes inaccurately added to the number of actual death sentences.[17]

  1. ^ Miao, Michelle (June 2019). "Defining Death-Eligible Murder in China". The American Journal of Comparative Law. 67 (2): 327–382. doi:10.1093/ajcl/avz017.
  2. ^ "中华人民共和国刑事诉讼法 (the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China)". www.gov.cn (in Simplified Chinese). 2012-03-17. Archived from the original on 2018-01-03. 死刑采用枪决或者注射等方法执行 (A death sentence shall be executed by such means as shooting or injection)
  3. ^ "中华人民共和国刑事诉讼法（英文版） [the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (English Version)]". 中国人大网 (National People's Congress of China). 2011-08-23. Archived from the original on 2018-01-03. Retrieved 2018-01-03. A death sentence shall be executed by such means as shooting or injection.
  4. ^ "Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide". Cornell Law School. 2018-06-20. Archived from the original on 2019-01-17. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  5. ^ Zhang, Lijia (2014-12-29). "China's Death-Penalty Debate". The New York Times. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2016-04-14. Retrieved 2017-04-11. A majority of Chinese people support capital punishment, often citing the traditional saying "to repay a tooth with a tooth and to pay back blood with blood."
  6. ^ "EXPLAINER-Japan death row executions: hangings secretive, backed by public". Reuters. 2018-07-06. Archived from the original on 2019-01-17. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  7. ^ "EU condemns Taiwan's use of death penalty after man's execution for double murder". South China Morning Post. 2018-09-01. Archived from the original on 2019-01-16. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  8. ^ "South Korea has 61 people currently on death row". HANKYOREH. 2018-10-16. Archived from the original on 2019-01-16. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  9. ^ "Singapore executes six men over drug trafficking despite international pleas". ABC. 2018-10-28. Archived from the original on 2018-12-09. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  10. ^ "Canadian's death sentence in China 'horrific', family says". BBC. 2019-01-15. Archived from the original on 2019-01-15. Retrieved 2019-01-15. China is believed to execute more people annually than any other country, but is highly secretive about the number. Human rights group Amnesty International puts the figure in the thousands – more than the rest of the world's nations put together.
  11. ^ Hogg, Chris (2011-02-25). "China ends death penalty for 13 economic crimes". BBC. Archived from the original on 2015-01-18. Retrieved 2015-02-22.
  12. ^ Nikkei Asian Review. "Beijing calls for an international "fox" hunt". Nikkei Asian Review. Nikkei Inc. Archived from the original on 2015-03-10. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
  13. ^ "The Status Quo of China's Death Penalty and the Civil Society Abolitionist Movement". World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. 2022-02-22.
  14. ^ Miao, Michelle (2013). "The Politics of China's Death Penalty Reform in the Context of Global Abolitionism". The British Journal of Criminology. 53, Issue 3, Pages 500–519 (3): 500–519. doi:10.1093/bjc/azt004. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Trevaskes, Susan (May–June 2008). "The Death Penalty in China Today: Kill Fewer, Kill Cautiously". Asian Survey. 48 (3): 393–413. doi:10.1525/as.2008.48.3.393. hdl:10072/26121.
  17. ^ Scobell, Andrew (September 1990). "The Death Penalty in Post-Mao China". China Quarterly. 123 (123): 503–520. doi:10.1017/S0305741000018890. S2CID 154380257.