Executing Corrupt Officials in China: from immorality to illegality

• In Event: White-Collar Crime at 75: Regulation and Compliance

Abstract

In 2012, the Chinese government decided to retain the death penalty for bribery and graft after a three-day debate in the National People’s Congress, although they also decided to eliminate it for thirteen non-violent economic crimes (such as smuggling and fraud). Why did the government decide to maintain such punishment – arguably the harshest form that exists – to address an offense that is trivialized in Western countries? The motivation for this use of the death penalty has not yet been fully explored. Drawing on punishment theory, media reports, and judicial opinions, this paper will explore (1) conventional images of corrupt government officials in China, (2) the impact of these images on the legal system, (3) the contribution they may consequently make to public support for the death penalty in corruption cases, and (4) the benefit the Party obtains from this process. When it comes to the death penalty in China, some scholars indicate two sizable “blanks” existing in Chinese death penalty policy: a cultural blank in the sense that executions have no cultural meaning because they are indiscriminate or politically motivated, and a legal blank in the sense that the system is not effective in terms of interpreting the death penalty.

Author

• Puma Shen, University of California, Irvine