China's Death Penalty: The Supreme People's Court, the Suspended Death Sentence and the Politics of Penal Reform

The Leviathan's Rule by Law

“…As noted, this study is one of the few to empirically explore the use of capital punishment against property and economic crimes, 49 for the simple reason that almost all developed countries where reliable data are available for quantitative research have long abolished, in law or in practice, the death penalty or limited its use to a very few types of serious crimes (Hoyle & Hood 2012). The finding of this study contributes to the debate about the ongoing reforms of the death penalty system in China (Hood 2009;Lewis 2011;Scott 2010;Trevaskes 2013). As noted earlier, in 2007 the SPC reasserted its authority to review death sentences issued by lower courts.…”

“…Major political/national events. Until recently, the Chinese government relied heavily on "strike-hard" campaigns to control serious crimes (Liang 2005;Trevaskes 2010). During such periods, criminals were punished harshly and sometimes in violation of normal legal procedures (Liang 2005).…”

“…During such periods, criminals were punished harshly and sometimes in violation of normal legal procedures (Liang 2005). Criticized for being ineffectual and contradicting the state rhetoric of governance in accordance with the law, "strike-hard" campaigns are no longer used or publicized as a primary mechanism for maintaining social order (Trevaskes 2010), but the political imperative of preserving regime stability continues to mandate temporarily heightened crime control. In our case, major political and national events may affect the protection of the pipelines as security tends to be much tighter in these periods.…”

“…When a major national event takes place, the state puts more emphasis on security and tightens the protection of the pipelines, driving down the number of oil thefts. As noted earlier, in the past, the Chinese government relied heavily on strike-hard campaigns to battle crimes (Liang 2005;Trevaskes 2010). Though the measure was toned down recently, the state continues to engage in temporary crime crackdowns when political events so demand.…”

“…The Chinese government has regarded capital punishment either as "a short-term necessity" or a necessary tool for deterrence and retribution (Scobell 1990). Before recent reforms, as many as 68 crimes were punishable with the death penalty (Hood 2009), and China was known to have sent more people to death than all other countries combined (Lewis 2011;Trevaskes 2013). To improve the operation of the system, the Supreme People's Court (the SPC) in 2007 reasserted its authority to review all capital convictions, leading to a significant drop in the number of executions (Scott 2010).…”