China's highest court is expanding its death penalty review team
following a modification of statutes requiring it to approve all
executions from next year.
The Supreme People's Court (SPC) has added three criminal
tribunals to the previous two and expanded the death penalty review
team from 50 to 100 judges.
Many of the judges were recruited from local courts and have
finished their three-month training at the highest court. They'll
be on probation for a year before officially assuming office.
The number of judges exercising death penalty review rights is
expected to rise as the SPC is working on a plan to recruit
experienced lawyers and law school teachers as senior judges.
The top legislature, the Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress, adopted an amendment to the organic law on the
people's court ending the practice of allowing executions on the
order of lower-level courts. This legal change will come into
effect on January 1, 2007.
Until 1983 the SPC was responsible for reviewing all death
penalty cases. Then, as part of a major crime crackdown, provincial
courts were given authority to issue final verdicts on death
sentences. These related to crimes seriously endangering public
security and social order such as homicide, rape, robbery and the
criminal use of explosives.
But the practice of provincial courts handling both death
sentence appeals and conducting final reviews has drawn sharp
criticism in recent years in the wake of some highly-publicized
miscarriages of justice.
Since 2005 China's media have exposed a series of errors in
death sentence cases and criticized courts for their lack of
caution in using capital punishment.
To prepare for the changes the SPC decided to set up three new
criminal tribunals to review death sentences handed down by
provincial courts.
In China capital punishment falls into two categories -- a death
penalty in which the criminal is executed immediately after
sentencing and death with a two-year reprieve.
(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2006)