Government and Policy

China mulls less crimes punishable by execution

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-08-23 10:43

BEIJING - A draft amendment of China's Criminal Law Monday proposed reducing the number of crimes subject to the death penalty to better protect human rights.

The draft amendment was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, for its first reading.

In most cases, a draft law will be read two or three times before being voted for adoption.

It is the eighth amendment to the country's 1997 version of Criminal Law.

China currently stipulates that 68 crimes are punishable by the death penalty. The draft amendment eliminates the capital punishment for 13 economy-related non-violent offences, a drop of 19.1 percent.