SPC Incorporates Reform of Death Penalty Review into New Five Year Program

February 6, 2006

Supreme People's Court (SPC) President Xiao Yang announced on October 25 that the SPC will consolidate and reclaim its power over death penalty review as part of a Second Five Year Reform Program, according to an October 26 China Daily article. Xiao reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress that, beginning in 2006, the SPC would no longer permit provincial high courts to review death sentences.

Supreme People's Court (SPC) President Xiao Yang announced on October 25 that the SPC will consolidate and reclaim its power over death penalty review as part of a Second Five Year Reform Program, according to an October 26 China Daily article. Xiao reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress that, beginning in 2006, the SPC would no longer permit provincial high courts to review death sentences.

The SPC reform program helps formalize earlier announcements and media reports highlighting reform of the death penalty review process as a priority topic for the Chinese judiciary. The SPC has already established special agencies to prepare for the additional work likely to result from taking back the death penalty review power. Following a series of wrongful conviction scandals in 2005, the SPC also convened seminars to help lower-level courts draw lessons from judgments made in error. According to an October 26 report posted on the People's Daily Web site, President Xiao revealed that "Judges directly responsible [for wrongful convictions] are being investigated, and some have been dealt with according to the law."

Article 48 of the Criminal Law and Article 199 of the Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) require SPC approval of all death sentences. Under Article 50 of the Criminal Law, a reviewing court may commute the sentence to a suspension of the death penalty or life imprisonment when the law allows. Under Article 200 of the CPL, a reviewing court may remand a case for retrial when the facts are unclear or the evidence is insufficient. According to President Xiao, the SPC has commuted 22 percent of the death sentences under its review and sent back 7 percent for retrial since 2003. Provincial high courts have commuted 38 percent and sent back 4 percent for retrial. Returning the power of death penalty review to the SPC will play a significant role in restricting the use of death sentences, consolidating criteria used by courts to administer death sentences, and ensuring constitutionally protected human rights, according to an SPC representative quoted by Xinhua.

President Xiao's announcement on October 25 follows earlier calls to reform the death penalty review process and bring it into line with safeguards provided under the Criminal Law and CPL. The China Daily article also notes that Procurator General Jia Chunwang has announced efforts by the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) to better ensure the rights of criminal suspects. Currently, the SPP is drafting measures designed to strengthen the examination of evidence obtained through torture or other illegal means. In a highly publicized wrongful conviction case that the Chinese news media spotlighted in early 2005, local government officials in Hubei compensated She Xianglin for forcing him to confess under torture and mistakenly imprisoning him for 11 years.

Additional information on the death penalty in China is available in the 2005 CECC Annual Report, Section III(b).