The death penalty in China is the death penalty. The only parts of this country in which such a radical punishment is not provided are Hong Kong and Macau, which are in a special position due to the events of the middle of the 20th century, which gave rise to the well-known principle of “one country, two systems”.
Since 2011, the Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China (People's Republic of China) provides for the death penalty for the following types of acts:
- possession or distribution of drugs;
- violent crimes (murder, rape);
- corrupt practices;
- pimping;
- counterfeit banknotes;
- harm national security;
- production and sale of fake drugs;
- theft / storage of explosives or weapons;
- organization of escape from custody;
- alcohol while driving, which caused the death of people.
In addition, for the unauthorized organization and conduct of excavations of ancient burials, severe punishment is imposed - the death penalty.
China is a country where the sentence of convicts is carried out through the execution or lethal injection. In recent years, the second form of punishment has been used more often, since it is considered less severe for the prisoners themselves and those who oversee the execution procedure.
The number of sentences per year is not officially reported by China. According to certain assumptions of the countries of the Western world (USA, Great Britain, etc.), the death penalty is carried out annually in relation to two to seven thousand prisoners.
It should be noted that at the official level, the Chinese authorities are striving to reduce the number of people sentenced to death. In particular, a similar decision was adopted at the Sixth Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPC (October 2006), which pointed out the fact that, while maintaining the death penalty as a capital punishment, it is necessary to prevent the adoption of erroneous sentences, and to tighten the investigation of crimes involving such a severe sentence.
In 2011, Xinhua News Agency reported that the death penalty in China is being abolished in relation to persons who have committed economic crimes (these are scammers, smugglers and businessmen who evade taxes). Also, elderly people (over 75 years old), adolescents, and pregnant women (although they can be forced to have an abortion) are exempted from the threat of capital punishment.
The sentence of "death penalty" in China is quite clear. Until 2006, a people's court could pass such a sentence immediately after the first trial. However, since 2006, capital punishment should be approved by the Supreme People's Court of China. After sentencing, the convicted person has the right to a double appeal process. At the same time, the Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China allows for a two-year postponement of the execution of the sentence, and after this postponement, the sentence can be changed to the prisoner (the death penalty can be commuted to a life term).
The public death penalty in China is prohibited by the Code of Criminal Procedure (1996, part 4, article 212), which states that the execution of death sentences must be announced, but the execution procedure itself should not be public. However, judging by the fact that videos and photographs of executions in the PRC are distributed worldwide, including via the Internet, it can be assumed that such actions are indicative measures addressed both to the people of China and to the rest of the world community. It is worth noting that the Chinese authorities are aware that, on the one hand, such measures are not the only way to combat crime, and on the other, emphasizing the principle and strength of the state machine, they become a vulnerability in the international relations of the Celestial state with other countries condemning such a measure of punishment.