Capital punishment in the People's Republic of China

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the People's Republic of China. It is mostly enforced for murder and drug trafficking, and executions are carried out by lethal injection or shooting.

The People's Republic of China executes the highest number of people annually, though other countries (such as Iran) have higher per capita execution rates. Watchdog groups believe that actual execution numbers greatly exceed officially recorded executions; in 2008, 2009, and 2010, the Dui Hua Foundation estimated that 5,000 people were executed each year in China – far more than all other nations combined. The estimated number of executions fell to 2,400 in 2013. The number of death sentences is a state secret.

After a first trial conducted by an intermediate people's court concludes with a death sentence, a double appeals process must follow. The first appeal is conducted by a high people's court if the condemned appealed to it, and since 2007, another appeal is conducted automatically (even if the condemned oppose the first appeal) by the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China (SPC) in Beijing, to prevent the awkward circumstances in which the defendant is proved innocent after the death penalty – an obviously irrevocable punishment – has been administered.

When a case involving the death penalty is sent to the SPC for mandatory review, the case is delivered to one of the court’s five divisions according to the geographic origin of the case or, in some cases, the type of crime involved. The SPC's second criminal division is dedicated to handling review of some of the most sensitive cases. Each case is then assigned to a panel of three judges, one of whom is designated as the principal case manager. Since 2012, judges are also required to interview defendants before deciding whether or not to confirm a death sentence. The judges write reports summarizing the case, discuss the case, and then report the decision to the division head, SPC vice president, and finally the SPC president.

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