China’s revised Criminal Law removes 13 crimes from death penalty list
February 26th, 2011 - 3:17 pm ICT by ANIBeijing, Feb.26 (ANI): Death penalty for thirteen economic crimes have been eliminated in China’s revised Criminal Law.
According to the eighth Amendment in the Criminal Law passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, fifty-five crimes will be punishable by death, the China Daily reports.
In order to restructure the penalty system and to protect human rights the country has reduced the number of crimes subject to the death penalty.
“The 13 crimes that have been exempted from the death penalty are mainly economic and non-violent crimes,” said Lang Sheng, vice-chairman of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee.
He told that the crimes exempt from capital punishment include tax fraud and “fraudulent activities involving financial bills”.
Offences such involving the smuggling of cultural relics or of precious and rare animals have also been removed from the list.
Lang added that the purpose of the amendment is to “temper justice with mercy”.
The amendment also specifies that the death penalty will not be imposed on people who are 75 or older at the time of their trials, unless they are convicted of crimes involving “exceptional cruelty”.
Earlier the exemptions were allowed for offenders who were below 18 years and women who were pregnant at the time of the trail.
Member of the NPC Law Committee Zhou Guangquan said that the country’s tradition of punishing crimes harshly can lead to an overuse of the death penalty, tarnishing China’s image for foreign observers.
“But the country is unlikely to abolish the death penalty in one fell swoop, since the total number of criminal cases in China is still in an upward trend”, he added.
The bimonthly session also included Vehicles and Vessels Taxation Law and a Law on Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection, which aims at better preserving heritages of historic, literary, artistic or scientific value.
Now the owners of the 199 million vehicles registered in China will have to pay an annual tax levied according to their vehicles’ engine capacities.
The law aims to encourage energy conservation and environment protection. (ANI)
- China drops death penalty for 13 economic crimes - Feb 26, 2011
- China exempts 13 crimes from death penalty punishment - Feb 25, 2011
- 'China committed to limiting death penalty' - Mar 09, 2012
- China never considered scrapping death penalty for corruption crimes, claims lawmaker - Sep 29, 2010
- China enacts law to exempt 13 crimes from capital punishment - May 02, 2011
- Chinese lawmakers opposing abolition of death penalty for 13 economic crimes - Aug 28, 2010
- China removes 13 economic crimes from capital punishment list - Aug 24, 2010
- China mulls human rights, torture in criminal law reform - Mar 08, 2012
- China to cut number of crimes punishable by death - Aug 24, 2010
- China to award death penalty for organ trafficking - Feb 24, 2011
- Amended Chinese law says organ traffickers will get death penalty - Feb 24, 2011
- China enacts new laws to reduce capital crimes, address smoking ban, food security - Apr 30, 2011
- China to reduce death sentence offence-list - Jul 24, 2010
- Protect human rights: Chinese leader tells police - May 28, 2012
- China to reduce capital punishment after law review - Aug 23, 2010
Tags: affairs commission, criminal law, cultural heritage protection, cultural relics, death penalty, economic crimes, eighth amendment, financial bills, fraudulent activities, heritages, intangible cultural heritage, law committee, legislative affairs, npc standing committee, rare animals, tax fraud, taxation law, upward trend, violent crimes, zhou