China’s Supreme Court says death penalty will be used more sparingly

China says death penalty to be used more sparingly

BEIJING — The highest court in China, which executes more people than any other country, has called for the death penalty to be used less often and for only the most serious criminal cases, state media reported Wednesday.

The remarks indicate that the Supreme People’s Court, which reviews all death sentences from lower courts before they are carried out, could overturn more of them.

Rights group Amnesty International reported earlier this year that China put at least 1,718 people to death in 2008. The penalty is used even for nonviolent crimes such as corruption or tax evasion.

The court will revise legislation to cut down the number of death sentences and will stress commuting sentences to life in prison for some criminals who show good behavior, a senior director in charge at the court told the Legal Daily newspaper.

“A policy of strictly controlling and being cautious to use the death penalty … requires judicial departments to use as few death penalties as possible, meaning you don’t kill those who you don’t have to kill,” the official was quoted as saying in an interview, a partial transcript of which was published on the Legal Daily Web site.

The paper did not give his name, but the English-language China Daily newspaper — which reported on the Legal Daily interview — said Wednesday it was Zhang Jun, vice president of the Supreme People’s Court.

He was quoted as saying the Supreme People’s Court tries to ensure that the death penalty is given to those who commit serious crimes that have social consequences, but that it is not feasible for China to abolish the death penalty altogether.

For example, for crimes stemming from disputes between family members or neighbors, a death penalty should not be given if the charged gives compensation or is forgiven by the family of those he injured.

The China Daily said the Supreme People’s Court overturned 15 percent of death sentences handed down in 2007 and 10 percent in 2008.

It pointed to a decision by the court last week that overturned a death sentence imposed on a man who killed his lover when he found out she was having an affair. The court considered the woman was also partly responsible and that Shao had shown regret and paid compensation to the victim’s family. The case did not have any social impact, it said.