Crime and the Death Penalty in China, Data from 12 Intermediate Courts

• In Event: Current Issues Related to the Death Penalty

Abstract

Despite global experts have been deciphering the number of death execution in China, the state secretly prevents the public from knowing details about capital punishment in China. By investigating criminal judgments (刑事判决书) published in official website of 12 Intermediate Court（中级法院）in recent years, the paper tries to sketch out death penalty in real criminal justice of China. With 552 judgments of death penalty, the author indicates: (1) death penalty in China was applied mainly to violent crime and drug crime, especially intentional killing, drug selling and trafficking; (2) two-thirds criminal offenders with capital punishment might not be executed because the death penalty was suspended; (3) the declining trend of “kill fewer” in the death penalty without suspension was demonstrated in Shanghai and Guangzhou. The paper points out that China is controlling the death penalty with the suspension and fewer capital sentencing since the Supreme Court took death penalty approval back.

Author

• Moulin Xiong, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics