A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in...

A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in January 1997. This Law has "reduced" the number of capital offenses to sixty-nine. However, in March 1997 new amendments to China's Criminal Law added to the number of crimes punishable by death. There are two types of death sentence in China: immediate execution and a death sentence with suspension that allows for the commutation of the sentence when the condemned prisoner does not deliberately commit further crimes during a 2-year suspension period. Death-qualifiable offenses include such nonviolent crimes as tax evasion, drug-trafficking, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, gambling, bigamy, running a brothel, habitual theft, corruption, disturbing the peace, cigarette smuggling, organizing pornographic clubs, car smuggling, exploitation of prostitutes, speculation, publication of pornographic material, stealing or trafficking in national treasures, financial fraud, sale of false invoices, sale of the pelts of two giant pandas, stealing cows, camels or horses, sale of false birth certificates, sale of false sterility certificates, sale of counterfeit money, and killing a tiger.