Capital punishment in the People's Republic of China
Encyclopedia
Capital punishment in the People's Republic of China is currently administered for a variety of crimes, but the vast majority of executions are for cases of either aggravated murder
Aggravation (legal concept)
Aggravation, in law, is "any circumstance attending the commission of a crime or tort which increases its guilt or enormity or adds to its injurious consequences, but which is above and beyond the essential constituents of the crime or tort itself."...

 or large scale drug trafficking. The People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 executes
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

 the highest number of people annually before The Supreme People's Court has ordered lower courts to suspend death sentences for two years , although other countries (such as Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

 or Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

) have higher execution rates per capita. Article 49 in the Chinese criminal code explicitly forbids the death penalty for offenders who are under the age of 18 at the time of the crime.

The death penalty is not practiced in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 or Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

, which are separate jurisdictions under the "one country, two systems
One country, two systems
"One country, two systems" is an idea originally proposed by Deng Xiaoping, then Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China , for the reunification of China during the early 1980s...

" principle.

Legal procedure

After a first trial conducted by an Intermediate people's court
Intermediate people's court
An intermediate people's court is the second lowest local people's court in the People's Republic of China. According to the Organic Law of the People's Courts of the People's Republic of China, the intermediate people's courts handle relevant important local cases in the first instance and hear...

 concludes with a death sentence, a double appeals process must follow. The first appeal is conducted by a High people's court
High people's court
A High people's court or Higher people's court is the highest local court in the People's Republic of China and reports to the people's congresses at provincial level....

 if the condemned appealed to it, and since 2007, another appeal is conducted automatically (even if the condemned opposed to the first appeal) by the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China
Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China
The Supreme People's Court is the highest court in the mainland area of the People's Republic of China...

 in Beijing. The execution is carried out shortly thereafter and is fairly automated. As a result of its reforms, China says, the Supreme People's Court overturned about 15 percent of the death sentences handed down by high courts in the first half of 2008. In a brief report in May, Xinhua quoted anonymous sources as saying Chinese courts handed down 30 percent fewer death sentences in 2007 compared with 2006.

China has a unique form of sentence: "death sentence with two years' probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...

" (discretionary). This sentence is generally reduced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...

 after two years if no new crime is intentionally committed during the probationary period.

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
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

 have separate judiciaries and local laws and do not have capital punishment. This has created a barrier to the creation of proper extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...

 laws between the SAR and the mainland. It is quite a concern to many residents of the SARs that in many crimes with concurrent jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...

 the central authorities have claimed the right to try, and potentially sentence to die, residents of Hong Kong and Macau. Usually, however, if the law is solely broken in SAR and not in Mainland, the PRC has no right to try Hong Kong and Macau residents under "one country, two systems". Hong Kong and Macau residents would then be tried locally in Hong Kong or Macau depending on where the law is broken outside of Mainland.

Dropping death penalties for economic and non-violent crime is under consideration as of 2010.

Executions procedure

The execution protocol is defined on the criminal procedure law, under article 212:
Before a people's court executes a death sentence, it shall notify the people's procuratorate at the same level to send personnel to supervise the execution.

Death sentences shall be executed by means of shooting or injection.

Death sentences may be executed at the execution ground or in designated places of custody.

The judicial personnel directing the execution shall verify the identity of the criminal offender, ask him if he has any last words or letters, and then deliver him to the executioner for the death sentence. If, before the execution, it is found that there may be an error, the execution shall be suspended and the matter shall be reported to the Supreme People's Court for decision.

Execution of death sentences shall be announced to the public, but shall not be held in public.

The attending court clerk shall, after the execution of a death sentence, make a written record thereon. The people's court that caused the death sentence to be executed shall submit a report on the execution to the Supreme People's Court.

The people's court that caused the death sentence to be executed shall, after the execution, notify the family of the criminal offender.


In some areas of China, there is no specific execution ground. A scout team chooses a place in advance to serve as the execution ground. In such case, the execution ground normally will have three perimeters: the innermost 50 meters is the responsibility of the execution team; the 200 meter radius from the center is the responsibility of the People's Armed Police
People's Armed Police
The People's Armed Police , officially Chinese People's Armed Police Force is a paramilitary or gendarmerie force primarily responsible for civilian policing and fire rescue duties in the People's Republic of China, as well as provide support to PLA during wartime.In contrast to public security...

; and the 2 km alert line is the responsibility of the local police. The public is generally not allowed to view the execution.

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

China currently uses two methods of execution. Since 1949, the most common method was execution by firing squad
Execution by firing squad
Execution by firing squad, sometimes called fusillading , is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war.Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice...

, which has been largely superseded by lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...

, using the same three-drug cocktail pioneered by the United States
Capital punishment in the United States
Capital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence...

, introduced in 1997. Execution van
Execution van
Execution vans, also referred to as "mobile execution units", were developed by the government of the People's Republic of China and were first used in 1997. Prisoners are strapped to a stretcher and executed via lethal injection inside the van. The vans allow for death sentences to be carried out...

s are unique to China though. Lethal injection is more commonly used for "economic crimes", such as corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

, while firing squads are used for more common crimes like murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

. There is a general trend towards moving to lethal injection, though. The cost of a lethal injection is cheaper, and according to a court official in Kunming
Kunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...

, it lessens the risk of HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 in the cleanup of the firing squad. This method is promoted by the Central People's Government
Central People's Government
The Central People's Government is the central government of the People's Republic of China in Beijing. According to the 1982 Constitution, "Central People's Government" is synonymous with the State Council.-History:...

 as less painful and more humane, and it plans to phase out the use of firing squads by 2010.

Crimes punishable by death

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. Before the revision of the criminal law in 2011, economic crimes such as tax fraud have appeared routinely among the dockets of those receiving the death sentence, as have drug offences. Capital punishment in China can be imposed on crimes against national symbols and treasures
National treasure
The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of Romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology which supports the nation as the fundamental unit of human social life, which includes shared...

, such as theft of cultural relics and (before 1997) the killing of pandas
Giant Panda
The giant panda, or panda is a bear native to central-western and south western China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo...

. Corruption, property crimes such as theft the 55 crimes that are eligible for the death penalty in China. Several crimes such as gold and silver smuggling and tax fraud were removed from the list of capital crimes in 2011.

Capital punishment is also imposed on inchoate offense
Inchoate offense
An inchoate offense, inchoate offence, or inchoate crime is the crime of preparing for or seeking to commit another crime. The most common example of an inchoate offense is conspiracy...

s, that is, attempted crimes which are not actually fully carried out, including repeat offenses such as attempted fraud. The recidivistic
Recidivism
Recidivism is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have either experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been treated or trained to extinguish that behavior...

 nature of the offenses, not their seriousness per se, is what is adjudicated to merit the capital sentence.

Rates of execution

By the confirmed numbers, the rate of executions in China is higher than the United States and Pakistan, though Iran executes more prisoners per capita
Per capita
Per capita is a Latin prepositional phrase: per and capita . The phrase thus means "by heads" or "for each head", i.e. per individual or per person...

. The Dui Hua Foundation
Dui Hua Foundation
The Dui Hua Foundation is a San Francisco based non-profit organization dedicated to improving universal human rights by means of a well-informed dialogue between the United States and China...

 declares that the true figures were higher; they estimate that China executed between 5,000 and 6,000 people in 2007, down from 10,000 in 2005.

The exact numbers of people executed in China is classified as a state secret; occasionally death penalty cases are posted publicly by the judiciary, as in certain high-profile cases. One such example was the execution of former State Food and Drug Administration director Zheng Xiaoyu
Zheng Xiaoyu
Zheng Xiaoyu was director of the State Food and Drug Administration of the People's Republic of China. He was sentenced to death in the first instance trial at Beijing No.1 Intermediate Court on May 29, 2007...

, which was confirmed by both state television and the official Xinhua News Agency
Xinhua News Agency
The Xinhua News Agency is the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and press conferences in the PRC. It is the largest news agency in the PRC, ahead of the China News Service...

. Other media, such as Internet message boards, have become outlets for confirming death penalty cases usually after a sentence has been carried out.

In 2009, Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 estimated 1718 executions took place during 2008 (which equates to 0.0001%, or 1 in 1,000,000 of the Chinese population), based on all information available. Amnesty International claimed that the figure was likely to be much higher. Amnesty international made an estimation of the Chinese execution rate and then indicated their estimation was likely inaccurate.

Pressure placed on local and regional bureaucracies under the auspices of the "strike hard" (严打) 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.

Execution of foreigners

Executions of foreigners in China are rare. On December 29, 2009, Akmal Shaikh
Akmal Shaikh
Akmal Shaikh was a Pakistan-born British businessman who was convicted and executed in the People's Republic of China for drug trafficking. The trial and execution attracted media attention and strained diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and China. Shaikh was born in Pakistan and...

, 53, a British citizen of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i origin, was executed following his conviction in 2007 for the smuggling of 4 kilograms (8.8 lb) of heroin into China. The Chinese criminal code automatically stipulates a mandatory death sentence for smuggling heroin in quantities more than 50 grams. Shaikh was executed after pleas for clemency by the British politicians and diplomats failed. The Chinese ambassador in London stated that the Chinese judiciary was independent of the government, and that the supreme court had made its decision.

Antonio Riva
Antonio Riva
Capitano Antonio Riva, was an Italian pilot and a World War I flying ace, credited with seven confirmed and seven unconfirmed aerial victories.-World War I service:...

, an Italian citizen was executed in 1951, along with a Japanese citizen, Ruichi Yamaguchi. They were convicted on the accusation of being involved in a plot to assassinate Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

 and other high-ranking Communist officials. On 6 April 2010, China executed Mitsunobu Akano, a Japanese citizen caught illegally carrying more than 1.5 kg of stimulant
Stimulant
Stimulants are psychoactive drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both. Examples of these kinds of effects may include enhanced alertness, wakefulness, and locomotion, among others...

s at Dalian Airport
Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport
Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport is the airport serving the city of Dalian in Liaoning Province, China. It is located in Ganjingzi District, about northwest of the city center...

. Three Filipino citizens arrested separately in 2008 for carrying at least 4 kilograms (8.8 lb) of heroin were convicted and sentenced in 2009 and executed in March of 2011 via lethal injection. The Government of the Philippines had appealed for clemency on the behalf of the drug mules, but a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said "we grant equal treatment for both domestic and foreign drug traffickers".

External links

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