China orders suspension of death sentences

[frigidmagi]

BBC

China has apparently introduced new standards to reduce the number of criminals it executes.

The Supreme People's Court - the highest in China - has told lower courts to suspend death sentences for two years.

But this should only happen in cases where there is no need for "immediate execution", the court said.

China has introduced a number of measures over recent years to cut down the number of executions.

This latest development appeared in the annual report of the supreme court.

"Suspend the death sentence for two years for all cases that don't require immediate execution," read the report.

The court does not say why some cases might need to be carried out immediately, although in the past the government has instructed judges to be more severe in cases that involved crimes it was targeting.

Those benefiting from the changes will probably never be executed.

Criminals given a suspended death penalty usually have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

China does not reveal the number of executions it carries out each year, but it is thought to kill more people than any other country.

Four years ago the Supreme People's Court took back the right to review every death sentence handed out by lower courts.

The result has been fewer executions.

Earlier this year China reduced the number of crimes that carry the death penalty by 13 to 55.

"Strictly control and unify standards relating to the death penalty, and ensure that it only applies to a very small minority of criminals committing extremely serious crimes," read one section of the supreme court's report.

It's a good step but 55? 55!?! The mind boggles that there could be 55 different crimes for which execution is a fair punishment. Of course frankly I doubt that punishments are fair in Not So Communist China.

[The Minx]

A good step in the right direction. Whatever you may think of the death penalty in general, it seems pretty clear that China has been far too trigger happy in applying it.

[General Havoc]

However Communist they may actually be, the Chinese hold that white collar crimes such as fraud, embezzlement, and bribery are crimes "against the people", and thus punishable by death. That's why there's so many capital crimes on their books.

[The Cleric]

I... kinda agree with them, actually. White collar crimes have the potential to cause a lot more devastation than a single murder.