CHINA DEATH SENTENCES AT TEN-YEAR LOW: HIGH COURT JUSTICE

death sentences handed down by Chinese courts were at a ten-year low in 2006 and the trend continues in 2007, according to a Chinese Supreme Court justice quoted by state media.
In response to wrongful convictions and international criticism, China implemented reforms at the beginning of this year requiring that all death sentences be approved by the Supreme People's Court. High court vice-president Jiang Xingchang said that fewer people were sentenced to death in 2006 than at any point in the previous decade, and that the reforms have extended the declining numbers into 2007. He offered no statistics but stated that "a relatively large proportion" of death penalty cases authorized by provincial courts were not approved when reviewed by the Supreme People's Court.
In June, Chinese state media reported that during the first five months of 2007, the number of death sentences handed out in cases of first instance dropped approximately 10 percent from the same time last year.