CHINA SAYS DEATH PENALTY FAIRER AFTER KEY REFORM

China is using the death penalty more prudently following a key legal reform, the country's chief justice said, adding capital punishment should continue to be "strictly controlled." Xiao Yang, president of the top court, said the reform had been successful with a smooth transition, Xinhua news agency reported.
"The quality of initial and second trials of death penalty cases has improved...and the quality of the final approvals has been guaranteed," Xiao was quoted as saying.
He did not give figures, but domestic media said last month that the number of people sentenced to death by Chinese courts had dropped significantly and could be the lowest in a decade in 2007. Xiao also said in November that in the year to date the number of criminals given death sentences with a two-year reprieve, which usually becomes life imprisonment, for the first time exceeded the total of immediate executions.
The Supreme People's Court would also perfect its final approval system and try to unify death penalty application criteria for local courts across the vast country, Xiao said.