Capital offences in China explained

In Mainland China, there are 46^[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 or espionage
6. Selling state secrets
7. Providing material support to the enemy

Crimes Endangering Public Security

8. Arson
9. Flooding
10. Manslaughter
11. Bombing
12. Spreading poisons
13. Spreading hazardous substances (e.g., radioactive, toxic, pathogenic)
14. Seriously endangering public safety, broadly construed
15. Sabotaging electricity
16. Sabotaging gas, fuel, petroleum, or other flammables or explosives
17. Hijacking aircraft
18. Illegal possession, transport or selling of explosives or firearms
19. Illegally manufacturing, selling, transporting or storing hazardous materials
20. Theft of explosives or other dangerous material
21. Theft of firearms, ammunition or other dangerous material

Economic crimes

22. Production or sale of counterfeit medicine
23. Production or sale of hazardous food products

Crimes against people

24. Intentional homicide
25. Intentional assault
26. Rape
27. Kidnapping
28. Human trafficking

Crimes against property

29. Robbery

Crimes against public order

30. Prison escape, jailbreaking
31. Raiding a prison
32. Smuggling, dealing, transporting or manufacturing drugs

Crimes against national defense

33. Sabotaging weapons, military installations, or military communications
34. Providing substandard weapons or military installations

Corruption and bribery

35. Embezzlement

Breach of duty by soldiers

36. Insubordination
37. Concealment or false reporting of military intelligence
38. Refusing to pass or falsely passing orders
39. Surrender
40. Defection with aircraft or ships
41. Selling military secrets
42. Theft of military weaponry or supplies
43. Illegally selling or transferring military weaponry or supplies
44. Killing innocent inhabitants of war zones or plundering their property
45. Cowardice

Amendments

A 2011 amendment to this law for the purpose of legal provisions improvement reduced the number of capital crimes by 19.1% and gave more lenient punishments to minors and the elderly (75 years old and above).

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

• Smuggling weapons or ammunition
• Smuggling nuclear materials
• Smuggling counterfeit money
• Counterfeiting
• Investment fraud/fraudulent fundraising.
• Organizing prostitution
• Forcing prostitution
• Obstructing military affairs
• Spreading rumors and undermining morale during wartime.

Further reading

• Web site: China's Death Penalty: Reforms on Capital Punishment (EAI Background Brief No. 412 . LU Hong . 2008-11-05 . East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100215045420/http://www.eai.nus.edu.sg/BB412.pdf . 2010-02-15 .

External links

• Full text of China's Criminal Code

Notes and References

1. Web site: China media: Death penalty . en . . 2014-10-28. 2018-01-04 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180103170606/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29798165 . 2018-01-03 .
2. Web site: China says death penalty to be used only for 'serious offenders' . 2016-09-12 . 2018-01-04 . en . . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180103165343/http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201609120042.html . 2018-01-03 .
3. News: 中国刑法再次修正取消9个死刑罪名 . BBC中文网 (BBC Chinese) . 2015-08-29 . 2018-01-04 . zh-hans . 立行 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180103165708/http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2015/08/150829_china_deathpenalty . 2018-01-03 .
4. Book: Inside China's Legal System. Wang. Nathan. Madison. Nathan. Chandos Publishing. 2013. 9780857094605. Oxford. 311.
5. Book: China's Death Penalty: History, Law and Contemporary Practices. Lu. Hong. Miethe. Terance. Routledge. 2007. 978-0415955690. New York. 50–51.
6. Book: Young, Simon. Civil Forfeiture of Criminal Property: Legal Measures for Targeting the Proceeds of Crime. Edward Elgar Publishing. 2009. 9781847208262. Cheltenham. 259.
7. Web site: China: . 23 June 2019 . Library of Congress.
8. Web site: Van Sant . Shannon . China Reduces Number of Crimes Punishable by Death . 23 June 2019 . Voice of America.
9. Web site: Daum . Jeremy . 28 September 2015 . It's a crime, I tell ya: Major Changes in China's Criminal Law Amendment 9 . 23 June 2019 . China Law Translate.
10. Web site: Plaçais . Aurélie . 6 October 2015 . China reduces the number of crimes punishable by death to 46, but keep drug trafficking in the list . 23 June 2019 . World Coalition against the Death Penalty.