China
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · In January, the Nanyang Intermediate People's Court...
- News items in the archive
- 2,796
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
China is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 2,796 news items on China, from 1999 to today.
China is believed to carry out more executions than any other country, but the figure is a state secret: no official statistics exist, and the known cases are those reported by the press or heard in public trials. Capital punishment applies to a large number of offences, including economic and drug offences, and the system also provides for a death sentence with a two year suspension, which in practice is often converted into life imprisonment.
The news on this page is a small part of what happens, and it is the part that can be documented.
Latest news
- AUGUST 14, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
a South Korean man has been sentenced to death
a South Korean man has been sentenced to death
JULY 26, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: OFFICIAL SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR CORRUPTION
A development zone official in a south China city was sentenced to death over land-related
- JULY 5, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
a Chinese court announced it has upheld a suspended death sentence...
a Chinese court announced it has upheld a suspended death sentence...
- JULY 3, 2012SingaporeDEATH PENALTY
a Chinese national sentenced to hang, in Singapore...
a Chinese national sentenced to hang, in Singapore...
JUNE 26, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FOUR DRUG TRAFFICKERS EXECUTED
China executed four convicted drug traffickers and sentenced at least 15 others to death as the nation marked global anti-drug day, state press reported.
JUNE 25, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCINA: COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY FOR MAN IN BANK BLAST
A higher people's court upheld the death penalty for a man convicted of causing
JUNE 15, 2012South KoreaDEATH PENALTYSOUTH KOREA: DEATH SENTENCE IN GROTESQUE MURDER CASE
A South Korean court handed down a death sentence to a Chinese national who was
JUNE 15, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TRAFFICKING 223 INFANTS IN LESS THAN A YEAR
A Chinese woman was sentenced to death for abducting and trafficking 223 infants over
- JUNE 14, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Chinese state media say a man has been sentenced...
Chinese state media say a man has been sentenced to death for forging currency worth tens of millions of dollars.
JUNE 13, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: BUDDHIST MONK SENTENCED TO DEATH WITH REPRIEVE
In China, a man who lived as a Buddhist monk for 18 years after committing murder
JUNE 11, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MORE STRINGENT JUDICIAL PROCEDURES FOR DEATH PENALTY CASES
A government action plan was released in China to improve the trial procedures and reviews of death
JUNE 3, 2012UgandaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: UGANDAN DRUG DEALERS SURVIVE GALLOWS
The Chinese government has agreed to lift the death sentence on a total of 22 Ugandans
MAY 25, 2012South KoreaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: SOUTH KOREAN MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
A South Korean man has been sentenced to death for drug trafficking in the eastern
- MAY 22, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
the former chairman of a State-owned food enterprise...
the former chairman of a State-owned food enterprise...
MAY 21, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TYCOON JAILED AFTER DEATH SENTENCE REVOKED
A former Chinese tycoon who was convicted of illegally raising money for her business has been sentenced
MAY 18, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: PLEDGE NOT TO EXECUTE A LONGTIME FUGITIVE IN CANADA HONOURED
Lai Changxing, who spent 12 years on the run in Canada as China’s most notorious fugitive,
- MAY 9, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: BEIJING TAX CHIEF GETS DEATH SENTENCE
The former chief of the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau was sentenced to death with a
- APRIL 27, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: EX-POLITICAL ADVISOR SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BRIBERY
A Chinese court sentenced Song Chenguang, former senior political advisor of east
- APRIL 23, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Chen Meng, the former deputy head of a district government in Shanghai...
Chen Meng, the former deputy head of a district government in Shanghai...
- APRIL 19, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
a court in China's southwestern Chongqing municipality...
a court in China's southwestern Chongqing municipality...
- APRIL 19, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DRUG GANG MEMBERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
A court in China's southwestern Chongqing municipality has sentenced seven people
- APRIL 10, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
FIVE DRUG TRAFFICKERS SENTENCED IN CHINA
Five drug traffickers were sentenced in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou, with
APRIL 6, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR $16 MILLION FUND SCAM
A 30-year-old Chinese woman was sentenced to death by a court in Wenzhou for "cheating
- APRIL 1, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CINA: DEATH PENALTY UPHELD OVER TAX OFFICIAL MURDERS
A court in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region upheld a verdict
- MARCH 30, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
a Hong Kong man, Robert Shan Shiao-may and a Taiwanese man...
a Hong Kong man, Robert Shan Shiao-may and a Taiwanese man...
- MARCH 29, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: THREE EXECUTED OVER FATAL FIRE
Three people responsible for a fire, in which 11 people were killed and two others
MARCH 26, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: UIGHUR MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER XINJIANG ATTACKS
A Uighur man accused by the Chinese government of being the mastermind behind deadly
- MARCH 23, 2012PhilippinesDEATH PENALTY
a court in China handed down the death sentence
a court in China handed down the death sentence
MARCH 22, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA TO ABOLISH TRANSPLANTING ORGANS FROM CONDEMNED PRISONERS WITHIN 3-5 YEARS
China has pledged to abolish the practice of taking transplant human organs from condemned prisoners within three to five years, a senior health official said.
- MARCH 20, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
a 45-year-old mafia boss convicted of organized crime...
a 45-year-old mafia boss convicted of organized crime...