Death penalty dropped for 13 economic crimes
Source: Xinhua/Shanghai Daily |
February 26, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
China yesterday dropped the death penalty for more than a dozen non-violent crimes and banned capital punishment for offenders over the age of 75.
Thirteen economic offenses will be removed from the list of 68 crimes punishable by death, said Lang Sheng, who heads the legal committee of the Standing Committee to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.
The NPC Standing Committee passed the amendment to the Criminal Law yesterday.
The 13 crimes include forging and selling invoices to avoid taxes, smuggling cultural relics, rare animals and their products and precious metals such as gold and silver out of the country and robbing ancient cultural ruins.
Lang said the death penalty was still necessary for other crimes such as corruption.
After the adjustment, capital punishment will apply to 55 offences.
The change marks the first reduction in the number of crimes subject to the death penalty since the Criminal Law took effect in 1979.
The revised Criminal Law comes into effect on May 1.
The amendment was meant to further implement the principle of tempering justice with mercy, Lang said.
"Abolishing the death penalty for these 13 crimes is a big step," Lang said. "Obviously, we have still retained the death penalty for a number of other crimes."
Mou Xinsheng, a deputy to the NPC Standing Committee, said that to reduce the number of crimes punishable by death was in line with international practice and China's reality.
"But it is not the right time to totally abrogate capital punishment in China," Mou said. "Incidences of crime remain comparatively high, especially violent ones."
Under the amendment, the death penalty will not be imposed on people aged 75 or older at the time of trial, unless they commit murder with exceptional cruelty. Previously, only convicts younger than 18 and pregnant women were exempt from capital punishment.
Other changes to the Criminal Law passed include imposing the death penalty for organ traffickers.
The scope of punishment for subversion also widened to include the funding of domestic and foreign groups to commit crimes that endanger national security.
Thirteen economic offenses will be removed from the list of 68 crimes punishable by death, said Lang Sheng, who heads the legal committee of the Standing Committee to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.
The NPC Standing Committee passed the amendment to the Criminal Law yesterday.
The 13 crimes include forging and selling invoices to avoid taxes, smuggling cultural relics, rare animals and their products and precious metals such as gold and silver out of the country and robbing ancient cultural ruins.
Lang said the death penalty was still necessary for other crimes such as corruption.
After the adjustment, capital punishment will apply to 55 offences.
The change marks the first reduction in the number of crimes subject to the death penalty since the Criminal Law took effect in 1979.
The revised Criminal Law comes into effect on May 1.
The amendment was meant to further implement the principle of tempering justice with mercy, Lang said.
"Abolishing the death penalty for these 13 crimes is a big step," Lang said. "Obviously, we have still retained the death penalty for a number of other crimes."
Mou Xinsheng, a deputy to the NPC Standing Committee, said that to reduce the number of crimes punishable by death was in line with international practice and China's reality.
"But it is not the right time to totally abrogate capital punishment in China," Mou said. "Incidences of crime remain comparatively high, especially violent ones."
Under the amendment, the death penalty will not be imposed on people aged 75 or older at the time of trial, unless they commit murder with exceptional cruelty. Previously, only convicts younger than 18 and pregnant women were exempt from capital punishment.
Other changes to the Criminal Law passed include imposing the death penalty for organ traffickers.
The scope of punishment for subversion also widened to include the funding of domestic and foreign groups to commit crimes that endanger national security.
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