SCIO briefing on the CPC's philosophy and practice of respecting and safeguarding human rights
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E-mail China.org.cn, June 30, 2021
Shangyou News:
I would like to ask Mr. Li this question. With the continuous overall deepening of judicial reforms, China's judicial transparency is constantly upgrading, and its judicial human rights protection system is gradually improving. In recent years, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) has done a lot of work on the applicable standards of the death penalty. Can you give us some details on this? Thank you.
Li Xiao:
This is a very informed question, thank you. First of all, as for the applicable standards of the death penalty, let's take a look at how to control the application of the death penalty through legislation. As we all know, the application of the death penalty is a consistent criminal policy that China retains, strictly controls, and prudently applies. Paragraph 1 of Article 48 of the Criminal Law stipulates that the death penalty shall only be applied to criminals who have committed extremely serious crimes, while Article 49 states that the death penalty shall not be imposed on persons who have not reached the age of 18 at the time the crime is committed or on women who are pregnant at the time of trial, and that the death penalty shall not be given to a person who is 75 years old at the time of trial unless they have caused the death of another person by especially cruel means. In other words, there are three statutory conditions for restricting the death penalty.
In 2011, 13 crimes applicable for the death penalty were removed as part of the eighth amendment to the Criminal Law. In 2015, nine more crimes were removed in the ninth amendment. It shows that China has tightly limited the use of the death penalty through legislation. Over the years, massive efforts have been made to reform the judicial system, mainly in the following aspects:
First, by taking further steps to strictly control the death penalty and employ it with prudence. It is widely known that since the SPC invoked the right to approve all death sentences on Jan. 1, 2007, courts at various levels have firmly upheld the concept of attaching equal importance to punishing crimes and protecting human rights. More attention has been paid to the penalty policy of tempering severity with mercy, and the death penalty is strictly controlled and prudently applied. This requires increased care when handling cases, increased caution when prescribing death sentences, and enhanced fairness in trial procedures. In the process of death penalty review, the SPC employs the highest standards and strictest requirements to check on the facts and evidence, laws and policies, and trial procedures of each case, making sure that the death penalty is only administered for convicted criminals in extremely severe offenses.
Second, by continuously adopting judicial interpretations and normative documents over the years to detail the application of laws and policies and tighten the procedures of case handling. The SPC, acting alone or together with other departments, has issued documents including Some Advice on Implementing the Criminal Policy of Combining Leniency with Rigidity, Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Examination and Judgment of Evidence in Death Sentence Cases, and Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Exclusion of Illegal Evidence in Criminal Cases. This year, we issued a long judicial interpretation regarding the implementation of the Criminal Procedure Law, in which special chapters and sections have been established to make comprehensive revisions and regulations on the death penalty. These documents have played an active and important role in guiding the lower courts to try death penalty cases in a fair manner, and further tightening and unifying legal and policy standards, rules of evidence, and trial procedures applicable to the death penalty.
Third, by strengthening human rights protection during death penalty review and ensuring defendants' right to defense and other legitimate rights. In August 2019, the SPC issued the Provisions on the Review and Execution Procedures for the Death Penalty to Protect Convicts' Lawful Rights and Interests. It stipulates that defendants have the right to be represented by a lawyer when the SPC is reviewing their death sentences and that convicts have the right to meet relatives before the execution of the death sentences, providing a strong guarantee for the rights of the accused in death penalty cases.
Fourth, by formulating criminal justice concepts that meet the requirements of the new era and unceasingly increasing the level of criminal justice. In 2019, the seventh conference on works related to criminal trials asked courts at various levels to strictly observe China's policy of retaining, strictly controlling, and prudently applying the death penalty. Efforts were also required to be made to ensure that the death penalty is only administered for a very small number of convicted criminals who have been found guilty of extremely severe offenses and have caused great harm to society, and that the death penalty is given with sufficient evidence according to law. The people's courts will resolutely implement the policy and ensure all death sentences are employed with ironclad evidence. Thank you.
