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China Pledges Fewer Executions

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Posted on Jul 29, 2009
thechinadebate.org

Heads bowed, two men are sentenced to death during an open trial in China’s Hunan province in 2006.

China, which carries out more executions than any country—Iran comes in a semi-close second—is pledging to reduce the number of people killed by the state. While far from abolishing the death penalty, the government is narrowing the definition of execution-worthy crime.

The New York Times:

In a series of interviews, the vice president of the Supreme People’s Court said that China was not ready to abolish capital punishment but that the penalty should be reserved for a small number of serious crimes, particularly those that threaten social stability.

More than 60 crimes can draw the death penalty in China, including tax evasion, embezzlement and drug trafficking, but the government does not release figures on the number of executions, many of which take place immediately after trials that legal experts say are unfair and lack transparency.

“Judicial departments should use the least number of death sentences as possible, and death penalties should not be given to those having a reason for not being executed,” Zhang Jun, the court’s vice president, was quoted as saying in the newspaper China Daily.

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MarthaA's avatar

By MarthaA, August 1, 2009 at 12:12 am Link to this comment

Testing is more difficult since the Fed is out of it, and if you are in trouble for a Federal crime, it appears you’re out of luck.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/06/19/supreme_court_rejects_inmates8217_right_to_have_dna_test/

Even with a picture of CONSERVATIVE Judge Roberts rejection.

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By ardee, July 30, 2009 at 3:46 am Link to this comment

MarthaA, July 29 at 8:40 pm #

In the United States, now that it has been made illegal to use DNA testing to see if a prisoner has been wrongly convicted of a crime, it will be easier to convict criminals and keep them convicted, as conviction is all that matters, not true innocence or guilt.
....................................

Errr no.

http://www.innocenceproject.org/fix/DNA-Testing-Access.php

Access to DNA Testing

Despite the widespread acceptance of DNA testing as a powerful and reliable form of forensic evidence that can conclusively reveal guilt or innocence, many prisoners do not have the legal means to secure testing on evidence in their case.

Barriers to the truth
Forty-seven states have some form of law permitting inmates access to DNA testing. The other four states have no law granting such access. Click here to learn if your state allows access to testing.

Even in many of the states that grant access to DNA testing, the laws are limited in scope and substance. Motions for testing are often denied, even when a DNA test would undoubtedly confirm guilt or prove innocence and an inmate offers to pay for testing.

Federal incentives for granting access to DNA testing
Federal law, the 2004 Justice For All Act, grants access to DNA testing for federal inmates claiming innocence and also allocates various justice-related funding to any state that grants DNA testing access to inmates claiming innocence. To meet the requirements of the federal law, states should pass or strengthen laws granting access to DNA testing.

Clear and comprehensive laws can ensure justice
Some states have passed statutes that include barriers to testing that are insurmountable for most prisoners. These include restrictions against inmates who pled guilty or whose lawyers failed to request DNA testing at trial. In many cases, the questionable evidence used to convict a defendant at trial – like eyewitness identification or snitch testimony – is used by judges as grounds to deny a DNA test. These barriers keep innocent people from securing DNA tests that could prove their innocence.

An effective post-conviction DNA access statute must:

  * Allow testing in cases where DNA testing can establish innocence – including cases where the inmate pled guilty
  * Not include a “sunset provision” or expiration date for post-conviction DNA access
  * Require states to preserve and account for biological evidence
  * Eliminate procedural bars to DNA testing (allow people to appeal orders denying DNA testing; explicitly exempt DNA-related motions from the restrictions that govern other post-conviction cases; mandate full, fair and prompt proceedings once a motion seeking testing is filed)
  * Avoid creating an unfunded mandate, and instead provide the money to back up the new statute
    Provide flexibility in where and how DNA testing is conducted

For the Innocence Project’s complete recommendations for post-conviction DNA access statutes, view our DNA access fact sheet or review model legislation on the issue.

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MarthaA's avatar

By MarthaA, July 29, 2009 at 5:40 pm Link to this comment

In the United States, now that it has been made illegal to use DNA testing to see if a prisoner has been wrongly convicted of a crime, it will be easier to convict criminals and keep them convicted, as conviction is all that matters, not true innocence or guilt. There’s money to be made off common population prisoners that helps to keep the economy going for the Nobles and Nearly Nobles—the United States is looking to make a profit off prisoners if they can, if they can’t then they will kill them. Killing is no stranger to the United States.

Since, social stability is what really matters in China, there would have been a lot of people going to jail in China, if the economic social stability crisis that happened in the United States had happened in China, but in the United States, only Madoff: the criminals for the wealthy only get a pat on the back and more money.  The national debt goes higher and the 70% MAJORITY COMMON POPULATION get further trapped economically for generations upon generations and generations to come.

Apparently, China is trying to bring their country to be a world power and greedy capitalist thinking about their greedy self interest are easier to kill and go on.

Greedy capitalist Americans had better think about that when they, like Rupert Murdoch, move to China, as the ascendant economy.  China is looking for the greater good instead of the greater greed.

Oh well.

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By ardee, July 29, 2009 at 4:24 pm Link to this comment

Maybe we need a more intelligent assessment of the worth of such sentencing, Gerald4, prior to making such a callous statement.

For example, did you know that, statistically speaking, states with the death penalty see more capital crimes than states without the ultimate penalty?

Did you know that blacks are many times more likely to receive the death penalty than are whites? Poor people more than the middle class and both more than the wealthy?

Maybe we need a more in depth dialogue on the subject?

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By gerald4, July 29, 2009 at 1:59 pm Link to this comment

Maybe the USA needs more executions of criminals.

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