The
statistics are less unflattering for China when view per capita. China
has the largest population on Earth with 1.3 billion people; 5,000
executions would mean one in every 260,000 residents. In the U.S., the
rate in 2010 was one in every 6.7 million. Iran and North Korea executed
about one in every 300,000 and 460,000, respectively.
Two of the
factors apparently contributing to China's frequent use of the death
penalty are the troubled court system and a national policy that permits
capital punishment for crimes that are not considered capital in most
other countries. Corruption, embezzling, drug-related crimes, and even
theft on a large enough scale can all get you killed in China. Last
month, a Chinese telecommunications executive was sentenced to death for accepting bribes. In March, China sparked a diplomatic incident by executing
three Filipino citizens on drug trafficking charges. Other non-violent
crimes punished by death have included, for example, 43-year-old Du
Yimin, killed in March 2008 after he borrowed $100 million for
investment schemes that never panned out.
As for the courts that hand out the sentences, a 2008 Washington Post investigation
found "a largely closed legal system directed by party committees" and
marked by "secrecy, lack of due process, and uneven application of the
law." Policy change can sometimes come slowly in China, where the size
and density of the less-than-transparent political system can make it
difficult for leaders to push through reforms, especially when it comes
to reforms that carry little public popularity or promise of personal
advancement. China's policymakers may also be operating under a belief
that the death penalty deters future criminals. The deterrence effect of
capital punishment has been the subject of substantial political debate
in the U.S., although a significant body of academic research has found that no such deterrence effect exists.
But
China's approach to capital punishment does appear to be changing. In
2007, the Chinese Supreme People's Court was granted the power to review
death penalty cases. The court says it has overturned about 15 percent
of cases, although there's no way to verify this. Earlier this year,
China announced that it was cutting back on the list of crimes that
could receive the death penalty, the first time it has done so since
1979. However, according
to the Associated Press, "In the past, people convicted of these crimes
-- which include forging invoices to avoid taxes and smuggling cultural
relics out of the country -- rarely received the death penalty." The
announced changes also banned the death penalty for anyone over the age
of 75.
While public dissent can be at times limited in China, the Washington Post
story reported that "prominent Chinese academics" have been calling for
the country to reduce or end its use of the death penalty for capital
punishment. The United Nations has passed two separate resolutions
calling for a global moratorium on the death penalty, although this does
not appear to have altered policy in China any more than it has in the
U.S. Neighboring Taiwan, however, has been embroiled in public debate
over its own use of the death penalty. Some analysts say
that Taiwan's anti-death-penalty arguments and ideas could find some
exposure in nearby China, potentially increasing concern there over the
use of capital punishment.
None of this dulls any of the cases against the U.S. death penalty, of course, nor does it cast it any more favorable of an international-comparison light;
the U.S. still executed more prisoners last year than Libya, Syria, and
Sudan combined. But it underscores the extent to which China's capital
punishment practices stand out.