Capital offences in China

In Mainland China, there are 47[1] crimes punishable by death.[2][3] These are defined in the criminal law of China, which comprehensively identifies criminal acts and their corresponding liabilities.[4]

List of capital offenses

Crimes Endangering National Security

Endangering national security is among the crime categories included in the 1997 revision of China's criminal code.[5] It comprises Articles 102 to 113 of the 1997 Criminal Law and imposes the confiscation of property as a supplementary penalty.[6] The crimes included are:

  1. Treason
  2. Separatism
  3. Armed rebellion, rioting
  4. Collaborating with the enemy
  5. Spying
  6. Selling state secrets
  7. Providing material support to the enemy

Crimes Endangering Public Security

  • Arson
    1. Flooding
    2. Bombing
    3. Spreading dangerous substances (e.g., radioactive, toxic, pathogenic)
    4. Endangering public safety through dangerous means
    5. Sabotaging electricity equipment
    6. Sabotaging gas, fuel, petroleum, or other flammables or explosives
    7. Sabotaging transport vehicles
    8. Sabotaging transport equipment
    9. Hijacking aircraft
    10. Illegal manufacturing, selling, transport, postal delivery, or storage of firearms, ammunition or explosives
    11. Illegal manufacturing, selling, transporting or storing dangerous materials
    12. Theft or snatching of firearms, ammunition, explosives or other dangerous substances
    13. Robbery of firearms, ammunition, explosives or other dangerous substances

    Economic crimes

  • Production or sale of counterfeit medicine
    1. Production or sale of poisonous or hazardous food products

    Crimes against people

  • Intentional homicide
    1. Intentional assault causing death or causing permanent disability through cruel means
    2. Rape
    3. Kidnapping
    4. Trafficking women and children

    Crimes against property

  • Robbery

    • Crimes against public order

  • Violent prison escape
    1. Raiding a prison
    2. Smuggling, selling, transporting or manufacturing illegal drugs

    Crimes against national defense

  • Sabotaging weapons, military installations, or military communications
    1. Providing substandard weapons or military installations

    Corruption and bribery

  • Embezzlement
    1. Accepting bribes

    Breach of duty by soldiers

  • Insubordination
    1. Concealment or false reporting of military intelligence
    2. Refusing to pass or falsely passing orders
    3. Surrender
    4. Cowardice on the battlefield
    5. Defection with aircraft or ships
    6. Stealing or illegally providing military secrets to foreign institutions, organizations or individuals
    7. Theft or snatching of military weaponry or materiel
    8. Illegally selling or transferring military weaponry or equipment
    9. Killing innocent inhabitants of war zones or looting their property

    Former capital offences

    A 2011 amendment to this law for the purpose of legal provisions improvement reduced the number of capital crimes by 13 and gave more lenient punishments to minors and the elderly (75 years old and above).[4] The crimes no longer punishable by death are as follows:

    1. Trafficking cultural artefacts
    2. Trafficking precious metals
    3. Trafficking precious animals or precious animal products
    4. Trafficking general goods or objects
    5. Cheque fraud
    6. Financial certificate fraud
    7. Letter of credit fraud
    8. Fraudulently issuing dedicated value-added tax invoices to obtain tax refunds for export, or fraudulently issuing tax deduction invoices
    9. Forging or selling forged dedicated value-added tax invoices
    10. Theft of financial institutions or precious cultural artefacts
    11. Teaching techniques of committing crimes
    12. Plundering ruins of ancient cultures or ancient tombs
    13. Plundering fossils of ancient humans or ancient vertebrates

    In 2015, the criminal code was amended to remove nine capital offenses:[7][8][9][10]

    1. Smuggling weapons or ammunition
    2. Smuggling nuclear materials
    3. Smuggling counterfeit money
    4. Counterfeiting
    5. Investment fraud/fraudulent fundraising
    6. Organizing prostitution
    7. Forcing prostitution
    8. Obstructing military affairs
    9. Spreading rumors and undermining morale during wartime

    References

    1. ↑ "China media: Death penalty". BBC News. 2014-10-28. Archived from the original on 2018-01-03. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
    2. ↑ "China says death penalty to be used only for 'serious offenders'". Asahi Shimbun. The Associated Press. 2016-09-12. Archived from the original on 2018-01-03. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
    3. ↑ 立行, ed. (2015-08-29). "中国刑法再次修正取消9个死刑罪名". BBC中文网 (BBC Chinese) (in Simplified Chinese). Archived from the original on 2018-01-03. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
    4. 1 2 Wang, Nathan; Madison, Nathan (2013). Inside China's Legal System. Oxford: Chandos Publishing. p. 311. ISBN 9780857094605.
    5. ↑ Lu, Hong; Miethe, Terance (2007). China's Death Penalty: History, Law and Contemporary Practices. New York: Routledge. pp. 50–51. ISBN 978-0415955690.
    6. ↑ Young, Simon (2009). Civil Forfeiture of Criminal Property: Legal Measures for Targeting the Proceeds of Crime. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 259. ISBN 9781847208262.
    7. ↑ "China:". Library of Congress. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
    8. ↑ Van Sant, Shannon. "China Reduces Number of Crimes Punishable by Death". Voice of America. Archived from the original on June 23, 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
    9. ↑ Daum, Jeremy (28 September 2015). "It's a crime, I tell ya: Major Changes in China's Criminal Law Amendment 9". China Law Translate. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
    10. ↑ Plaçais, Aurélie (6 October 2015). "China reduces the number of crimes punishable by death to 46, but keep drug trafficking in the list". World Coalition against the Death Penalty. Retrieved 23 June 2019.

    Further reading

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