The Death Penalty in China: Policy, Practice, and Reform

Featuring experts from Europe, Australia, Japan, China, and the United States, this collection of essays follows changes in the theory and policy of China's death penalty from the Mao era (1949-1979) through the Deng era (1980-1997) up to the present day. Using empirical data, such as capital offender and offense profiles, temporal and regional variations in capital punishment, and the impact of social media on public opinion and reform, contributors relay both the character of China's death penalty practices and the incremental changes that indicate reform. They then compare the Chinese experience to other countries throughout Asia and the world, showing how change can be implemented even within a non-democratic and rigid political system, but also the dangers of promoting policies that society may not be ready to embrace.

Foreword Preface and Acknowledgments 1. China's Death Penalty Practice: Working Progress, Struggle, and Challenges Within the Global Abolition Movement, by Bin Liang 2. The Criminal Justice System and the Death Penalty, by Hong Lu, Yudu Liu, and Charlotte Hu 3. Crimes of Counterrevolution and Politicized Use of the Death Penalty During the Mao Era, by Ning Zhang 4. China's Death Penalty in a State-Power-Based Society, by Yunhai Wang 5. From "Killing Many" to "Killing Fewer", by Susan Trevaskes 6. The Abolitionist and Retentionist Debate, by Zhigang Yu (translated by Charlotte Hu) 7. Guiding Cases for China's Death Penalty: Analysis and Reflection, by Xingliang Chen (translated by Charlotte Hu) 8. The Death Penalty After the Restoration of Centralized Review: An Empirical Study on Capital Sentencing, by Moulin Xiong 9. Public Opinion and the Death Penalty, by Shanhe Jiang 10. Between Deference and Defiance: Courts and Penal Populism in Chinese Capital Cases, by Hualing Fu 11. Chinese Capital Punishment in Comparative Perspective, by David T. Johnson and Michelle Miao 12. China's Death Penalty in the Twenty-First Century, by Bin Liang and Hong Lu List of Contributors Index