The latest developments of China’s death penalty reforms

The death penalty in China is generally accepted as one of major human rights issues during international dialogues. In the recent decade, China has undertaken great efforts to reduce the execution or death sentences in capital cases by many means. Following Amendment VIII to Criminal Law of the PRC in 2011 (2011 Amendment), China adopted Amendment IX to Criminal Law of the PRC in 2015 (2015 Amendment)1 in order to further decrease crimes punishable by death in law and to shrink the applicable scope of the death penalty in practice. Based on lessons from the past death penalty reforms, this research will examine progress and problems in China’s latest reforms in order to better reform the current death penalty system towards its eventual abolition from the perspective of human rights protection.