The Death Penalty in Post-Mao China

Abstract

The People's Republic of China has come under strong international criticism recently over its use of the death penalty. Capital punishment had a long history in China as a permanent fixture of the criminal justice system well before the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. Today the death penalty is an integral part of the legal system and is meted out for a wide range of offences.

China, a Punitive Society?

“…Instead of a less draconian regime of punishment, we have seen a substantial increase in the use of capital punishment since the death of Mao in 1976. The number of executions probably tripled during the first 8 years after the onset of economic and legal reforms in 1978 (Scobell 1990). Deng's firm belief in the preventive effects of harsh punishment, however, challenges early Marxist viewpoints held in China, as well as going against strong evidence in criminological research summed up by one of the world's leading sentencing scholars, Andrew Ashworth: "[I]f criminal justice policy expects sentencing to perform a major preventive function, it is looking in the wrong direction" (Ashworth 2000: 25).…”

Courts and sentencing research on contemporary China

“…With regard to the rationale and justifications for capital punishment, order maintenance, governmental control, deterrence, and retribution [7,16,24] were most frequently cited.…”

“…According to Scobell [24], the death penalty is considered to be one of the Five Punishments, with many acts being punishable with death, such as the rape of a child, intentional murder, hijacking, and smuggling valuable goods. Lu and Miethe [16,18] counted 68 capital offenses in the current Criminal Law including offenses against the public security, economic crimes, violent offenses, property offenses, offenses of disrupting social order, and corruption.…”

“…This was particularly true during the strike-hard campaigns of the 1980s and the 1990s. In several publications, Trevaskes [24][25][26][27][28][29] described the symbolism of public trials and sentencing rallies and their important functions of education and propaganda. Trevaskes [26] also discussed the use of public trials and rallies as means of social control in China through the use of dramatic displays and messages that reinforced community and legal norms, as demonstrated during the intense periods of the strike-hard campaigns.…”

“…While public execution is prohibited by the Chinese Criminal Law, citing both Western (i.e., International Amnesty, Washington Post, New York Times) and Chinese sources (i.e., South China Morning Post), Scobell [24] stated that public executions, some via television broadcasts, did take place sporadically during the 1980s.…”