ABOLISHING THE DEATH PENALTY IN CHINA

by Fan, Yuefeng

Although the death penalty is deemed inhumane and ineffective by some scholars, it still exists in some countries. Among the retentionist countries, China is the leader with a wide range of capital offenses and large number of executions. The review of deterrence studies in the United States indicates that there is no consistent evidence for a deterrent effect. Russia and Singapore are similar to China in some aspects. However, the death penalty does not show deterrence for murders in Russia and the moratorium on executions is not responsible for the increase in the murder rate. The extensive use of the death penalty in Singapore does not show deterrence, either. The comparison between these countries to China, as well as the review of deterrence studies, suggests that China can abolish the death penalty from a deterrence standpoint.