China is considering dropping the use of the death penalty to
punish several economic crimes, Xinhua has reported.
A draft amendment to the
country's criminal code suggests that 13 "economy-related, non-violent
offences" be dropped from the death penalty list.
China currently sentences to
death people found guilty of 68 specified crimes.
China executes more people every
year than any other country, and has drawn criticism for its record.
Amendments
China's state news agency,
Xinhua, said the amendment was submitted for a first reading to the
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
In most cases, a draft law will
be read two or three times before being voted for adoption, the agency
said.
Graph
It quoted Li Shishi, director of
Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, as
saying the country could cope with the effects of such an amendment.
"Considering China's current
economic and social development reality, appropriately removing the
death penalty from some economy-related non-violent offences will not
negatively affect social stability nor public security," he said.
The 13 crimes that would be
downgraded from capital punishment include smuggling out of the country
prohibited cultural relics, gold, silver and other precious metals, and
rare animals and their products.
Various kinds of fraud would
also be exempted from the death penalty, such as fraudulent use of
financial bills, letters of credit and tax invoices.
Teaching how to commit crimes
and robbing ancient ruins would also be made exempt.
China does not reveal how many
people it executes each year - but it is thought to be thousands,
reports the BBC's Michael Bristow in Beijing.
If that figure is true, that is
more than every other country in the world put together.
Chinese officials say the number
of executions has dropped since 2007, after a change in the law meant
all death sentences had to be reviewed by a higher court.
Source: BBC NEWS,
August 23, 2010
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