Post by MXB on Jun 18, 2007 8:50:38 GMT -5
Executions Declining in China
A new requirement that every death sentence be reviewed and approved by China's highest court has resulted in a sharp decline in executions there. A spokesman for the Supreme People's Court in China said that lower courts are reporting a 10% drop in executions during the first five months of 2007.
Human rights experts estimate that China executes 10,000 - 15,000 people each year, more than the rest of the world combined, but officials do not release specific numbers to the public.
In recent years, cases of wrongful executions have sparked public outrage about executions in China, and many have urged the government to take steps that would improve the fairness and accuracy of the nation's judicial system.
Legal scholars predict that the new rule requiring the Supreme People's Court to conduct a final review of each death penalty case could eventually cause executions to drop by 20 to 30 percent.
Xiao Yang, chief justice of the People's Supreme Court, has said, "A case involving a human life is a matter of vital importance."
Human rights activists are encouraged by the declining number of executions and say that it continues a trend that actually began six years ago when China was awarded the 2008 Olympic games. Some believe that executions have dropped by 40% since that time.
(International Herald Tribune, June 8, 2007).
A new requirement that every death sentence be reviewed and approved by China's highest court has resulted in a sharp decline in executions there. A spokesman for the Supreme People's Court in China said that lower courts are reporting a 10% drop in executions during the first five months of 2007.
Human rights experts estimate that China executes 10,000 - 15,000 people each year, more than the rest of the world combined, but officials do not release specific numbers to the public.
In recent years, cases of wrongful executions have sparked public outrage about executions in China, and many have urged the government to take steps that would improve the fairness and accuracy of the nation's judicial system.
Legal scholars predict that the new rule requiring the Supreme People's Court to conduct a final review of each death penalty case could eventually cause executions to drop by 20 to 30 percent.
Xiao Yang, chief justice of the People's Supreme Court, has said, "A case involving a human life is a matter of vital importance."
Human rights activists are encouraged by the declining number of executions and say that it continues a trend that actually began six years ago when China was awarded the 2008 Olympic games. Some believe that executions have dropped by 40% since that time.
(International Herald Tribune, June 8, 2007).