Public resistance obstacle to reducing death penalty
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Global Times, July 20, 2011
Two officials were executed Tuesday, the former vice mayor of Hangzhou, Xu Maiyong, and the former vice mayor of Suzhou, Jiang Renjie, both of whom were sentenced to death for embezzling large sums of money.
There were few who openly called for leniency to be shown toward them. A month ago, when Yao Jiaxin, a college student, awaited his final verdict after he stabbed a young mother to death, public opinion was overwhelmingly in favor of the death sentence. Yao was executed on June 7.
Within a month, there have already been three high-profile capital punishment cases. The horrifying thing is that there is almost zero support for clemency among the general public today.
The Supreme People's Court has vowed to reduce the use of capital punishment, and the country is under international pressure to do so, the biggest resistance seemingly comes from the public.
Early this year, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress dropped 13 crimes from a list of 68 that carry the death sentence.
How to make headway in reducing instances of the death penalty now largely hinges on the attitude of the public. Even among legal scholars, support for dropping the death penalty is a minority view.
A test is now being carried out although the final result allows little hope for optimism. Li Changkui, a farmer from Yunnan Province, was granted a life sentence with a reprieve for killing two people. His case is now under review by the Supreme People's Court. Again, public opinion is massively in favor of overturning the ruling and condemning Li to death.
Clemency is a general trend around the world, and wearing the crown for "executing the largest number of criminals" has embarrassed China. We can hardly blame the Chinese public for their lack of leniency.
The public has a legitimate fear of whether a criminal will receive due punishment without the death penalty. Given the deficiency of a judicial system, there is the worry that life sentence with reprieve could be equivocated to an early release through bribery. The public is also not convinced as to whether life imprisonment can be an equally effective deterrent.
There are researches and studies that suggest that a life sentence may not deter severe crimes significantly.
Unless more work is done to convince the public there are alternatives, the opposition to reducing instances of capital punishment will not easily be reduced.
Tian Youcheng, vice president of the Higher People's Court of Yunnan Province, said that looking back in 10 years, Li Changkui case may serve as a benchmark sentence, referring to the life sentence with reprieve.
Given the strong resistance among the public, the question is how we can take the first step toward clemency.
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