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
MARCH 11, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYTOP JUDGE SAYS CHINA NEEDS MORE LEGAL REFORMS
admitting problems in China's judicial system, chief justice Wang Shengjun vowed
- MARCH 8, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: AMENDMENT TO LIMIT USE OF DEATH PENALTY
a draft amendment to the nation's Criminal Procedure Law was submitted to the ongoing 5th session
MARCH 7, 2012TaiwanDEATH PENALTYCHINA: 3 TAIWANESE EXECUTED IN XIAMEN FOR TRAFFICKING 357KG DRUGS
Three Taiwanese drug traffickers who were given the death penalty by the Xiamen
MARCH 7, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: DEATH-ROW INMATES MAIN SOURCE OF ORGANS
Executed prisoners were still the main source of organs used in transplant operations
- FEBRUARY 23, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA MULLS DEATH PENALTY FOR ‘GUTTER OIL’ CRIMES
China will intensify its crackdown on illegal “gutter oil” trade and give the death penalty
FEBRUARY 22, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TRIO WHO DEALT DRUGS GIVEN DEATH SENTENCES
Three drug dealers in a gang of five were given death penalties for selling and transporting
- JANUARY 30, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
the former Party secretary of Nanchang County in eastern Jiangxi...
the former Party secretary of Nanchang County in eastern Jiangxi Province was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes and causing huge losses to the state, local media reported
- JANUARY 27, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
the US State Department said it was trying to confirm with China reports...
the US State Department said it was trying to confirm with China reports...
- JANUARY 18, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Zhejiang's Higher People's Court upheld the death sentence
Zhejiang's Higher People's Court upheld the death sentence
- JANUARY 17, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
an arsonist behind an explosion that injured 49 people at a rural bank
an arsonist behind an explosion that injured 49 people at a rural bank
- JANUARY 12, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: TWO GET DEATH OVER FATAL MOB AMBUSH
A gang leader and his second-in-command were sentenced to death in Southwest
- JANUARY 4, 2012KyrgyzstanDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: KYRGYZ CITIZEN SENTENCED TO DEATH
A Kyrgyz citizen has been sentenced to death in western China on drug-related charges
- JANUARY 2, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
a female college student named Lanlan
a female college student named Lanlan
- JANUARY 1, 2012ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in January 1997
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in January 1997
- DECEMBER 30, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTY
an undergraduate has been sentenced to death for killing
an undergraduate has been sentenced to death for killing
- DECEMBER 30, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTY
the Chongqing No.1 Intermediate Court, in China
the Chongqing No.1 Intermediate Court, in China
- DECEMBER 30, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Bai Zhiming, former deputy secretary-general of the CPC's Inner Mongolia
Bai Zhiming, former deputy secretary-general of the CPC's Inner Mongolia
- DECEMBER 29, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTY
a court in the southern city of Shenzhen, in China
a court in the southern city of Shenzhen, in China
- DECEMBER 29, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: 12 PEOPLE EXECUTED IN SINGLE DAY
China has executed 12 people in a single day, including a man who bombed a local tax office
DECEMBER 27, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TWO INVOLVED IN DRUG-RELATED CRIMES SENTENCED TO DEATH
Two local courts in China have sentenced to death two men on charges of trafficking and manufacturing
- DECEMBER 23, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTY
SW CHINA COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR CORRUPTION
in southwest China, the Higher People's Court of Chongqing upheld the death sentence of Wang Guanchao, former board chairman of Beijing Triple Nine Automobile Industrial Co, for graft and embezzlement totalling over 30 million yuan.
- DECEMBER 22, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTY
7 SENTENCED TO DEATH IN NORTH CHINA
the Taiyuan Intermediate People's Court in China's north Shanxi province sentenced five people to death and two others to death with a two-year reprieve for drug trafficking in October 2010.
- DECEMBER 16, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR PICKAXE MURDER
the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court in northeast China's Liaoning Province sentenced Xiao Guang, a 31-year-old resident of Liaozhong County, to death.
- DECEMBER 13, 2011RussiaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: RUSSIAN WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH
Russian national Marina Lopatina said she will not appeal her death sentence with a two year reprieve.
DECEMBER 13, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAFIA-STYLE GANG LEADER EXECUTED
The leader and two core members of a Mafia-style gang that terrorized local communities in southwest China's city of Kunming were executed, court officials said.
DECEMBER 13, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA HALVES EXECUTIONS TO 4,000 PER YEAR, RIGHTS GROUP SAYS
Executions in China have dropped 50 per cent since 2007 to around 4,000 per year,
- DECEMBER 12, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: THREE GET DEATH SENTENCES
in China, three members of a gang who kidnapped, robbed and murdered Yu Jun in Pudong's Jinqiao area on September 15, 2010, received death sentences.
DECEMBER 12, 2011South AfricaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: SA WOMAN EXECUTED FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
A South African woman was executed in China for drug smuggling, eNews reported.
- DECEMBER 11, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINESE MADAM EXECUTED BY LETHAL INJECTION
Wang Ziqi was executed in China for luring young women to work in brothels which were disguised as tea houses, beauty salons or hotels.
- DECEMBER 10, 2011ChinaDEATH PENALTY
DAIRY FARMER SENTENCED OVER MILK POISONING IN CHINA
a local court in Pingliang city in far western China's Gansu province found dairy farmer Ma Xiuling guilty of deliberately adding nitrite to the milk of a dairy farming couple in revenge for some business disputes, the official Xinhua News Agency reported