China is set to drop the death penalty for 13 economy-related non-violent crimes in the latest amendment to the Criminal Law. The proposal by the National People's Congress Standing Committee in August has drawn renewed attention to China's death penalty, under which the revision would cut the current 68 crimes punishable by death to 55. If passed, it will be the first time the scope of the death penalty has been reduced since China enacted its Criminal Law in 1979. Zhou Guangquan, Deputy Dean of Tsinghua University Law School and NPC Legal Committee member, recently shared his thoughts on this topic with ChinAfrica. Zhou said that given China's reality, abolition of death penalty should be proceeded in a gradual manner, so as to avoid any negative impact on social stability and public security. Excerpts of his thoughts follow:

The use of capital punishment has drawn heated criticism from the international community. Domestically there has also been a public debate on the death penalty. China applies capital punishment more carefully after the Supreme People's Court took back the death penalty review from local higher courts in 2007. The public's deeper understanding and the limited use of capital punishment has also helped pave the way to this amendment.

The proposed reduction in capital punishment was an inevitable trend, but it doesn't mean it isn't carefully considered. China has taken steps to reduce the use of the death penalty. The 13 crimes dropped in the proposal have rarely seen the death penalty applied in recent years. The next step is to abolish the death penalty for non-violent crimes, including malfeasance and corruption cases. In the long run, death penalty may be abolished for crimes of endangering national security and impairing the interests of national defense. But it could remain forever as these crimes threaten the fundamental interests of the state.

As China is in a period of transition, with an increasing number of social conflicts, it is not practical to abolish all executions. But the amendment sends a positive message that China is set to cut the crimes subject to the death penalty and limiting the use of the punishment.

A more pervasive concern now is that, with the capital punishment for these crimes possibly removed, corrupt officials for instance will increase in number. I think we should not excessively worry about this. The legislators in enacting law should as much as possible consider common types of crimes rather than special cases. There exist different views on capital punishment between the public and the legislators. Therefore, it requires legislators exercising independent judgment and avoiding being affected by some extreme values.

There are worries that a milder Criminal Law would affect social security. The death penalty is required to deter criminals but may be a limited deterrent. Harsh punishment needs to be meted out to ease public indignation. We need to make people realize the death penalty is not the only effective way to punish criminals. Besides, a fair and just judicial system should be established to reassure the public. And a well-managed society can effectively decrease the crime rate. We can rely on better law enforcement and social management to fight crime. Both globally and domestically, there is no proof that the death penalty helps in maintaining social order.

Legal changes

The amendments to the Chinese criminal code abolish the death penalty for the following 13 economic non-violent crimes:

►Smuggling cultural relics

►Smuggling precious metals

►Smuggling rare species of wildlife, or related products

►Smuggling common goods and articles

►Promissory notes fraud

►Financial certificate fraud

►Fraudulent activities using letters of credit

►Falsely issuing exclusive value-added-tax invoices to defraud export tax refunds or to offset taxes

►Forging or selling forged exclusive invoices for value-added tax

►Certain types of theft

►Instructing another person how to commit a crime

►Tomb-robbing

►Excavating and robbing fossils of paleo anthropoids or paleo vertebrates

Source: China's Supreme People's Court