CHINA’S DEATH PENALTY IS POPULAR AND RELEASING DATA WILL FUEL CALLS FOR MORE EXECUTIONS, JUDGE SAYS

Top judges from China’s Supreme People’s Court on 20 December 2018 made a rare defence of the death penalty, with one saying “a life for a life” is ingrained among the people.
Li Xiao, a top judge, told reporters that despite efforts to reduce executions, China could not abolish the system and risk angering a public that she said overwhelmingly supports its use.
“For thousands of years, the idea of ‘a life for a life’ has been deeply ingrained among ordinary folk,” she said during a promotional visit to the Supreme Court. “If we released the figure, then ordinary folk would say too few were killed.”