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
- 2,785
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 2,785 news items on China, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
APRIL 22, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: SCISSOR KILLER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DECADES-OLD DOUBLE MURDER
A man in eastern China has been sentenced to death for the decades-old murder of a woman and her young child during a violent robbery in which he only managed to steal the equivalent of a few US dollars, the Qianjiang Evening News reported on 22 April 201
APRIL 13, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: ZHANG KOUKOU'S DEATH PENALTY SENTENCE UPHELD AFTER SECOND TRIAL
Zhang Koukou, who killed three people in revenge for his mother's death, had his death penalty sentence upheld by Shaanxi Provincial High People's Court after a second trial on 11 April 2019.
- FEBRUARY 13, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA COURT PUTS CONVICTED MAN TO DEATH
China's Supreme People's Court revealed that a man found guilty of murdering 15 people in an SUV collision was put to death on 29 January 2019 in central China's Hunan Province.
JANUARY 17, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: CANADIAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
A Chinese court on 14 January 2019 upped Robert Lloyd Schellenberg’s sentence from 15 years in prison to execution after he appealed against the court’s December verdict.
JANUARY 15, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN COMPENSATED FOR WRONGFUL CONVICTION
A man who was acquitted after spending 25 years in prison in northeast China's Jilin Province was offered compensation from the state on 7 January 2019.
JANUARY 11, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN EXECUTED FOR KINDERGARTEN KNIFE ATTACK
A court in southern China has put a man to death after he injured 12 children in a knife attack at a kindergarten, the state broadcaster said on 7 January 2019.
JANUARY 9, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TWO HUMAN TRAFFICKERS ARE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SNATCHING NINE BOYS FROM THEIR NEIGHBOURS BEFORE SELLING THEM ON
Two human traffickers on 27 December 2018 were sentenced to death in China for snatching nine boys from their neighbours before selling them on, according to Chinese media.
JANUARY 7, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: BANK COMPUTER HACKERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
China has sentenced two computer hackers to death to deter the growth of computer crime, Cyware reported on 31 December 2018.
- JANUARY 1, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In February 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes
In February 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes
DECEMBER 24, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FORMER INNER MONGOLIA BANK CHIEF HANDED DEATH SENTENCE WITH TWO-YEAR REPRIEVE
A Chinese court on 21 December 2018 sentenced the former chairman of Bank of Inner Mongolia, a private joint-stock lender, to death for corruption with a two-year reprieve, the official Xinhua news agency said, effectively meaning he will be jailed for li
- DECEMBER 21, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA EXECUTES PETITIONER WHO KILLED POLICE OFFICER BRINGING HIM HOME
Authorities in the central Chinese province of Henan have executed a petitioner for killing a police officer who was forcibly escorting him home from a petitioning trip in the Chinese capital, Radio Free Asia reported on 20 December 2018.
- DECEMBER 14, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA TO EXECUTE MAN WHO RAMMED SUV INTO CROWD THEN ATTACKED PEOPLE WITH SHOVEL AND HAMMER
A man who killed 15 people and injured dozens more when he ploughed a vehicle into a public square before attacking pedestrians with a hammer and a shovel, is to be executed by Chinese authorities.
- DECEMBER 5, 2018BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
BULGARIA EXTRADITES GRAFT SUSPECT TO CHINA
A former Chinese official accused of taking bribes has been extradited from Bulgaria to China in the first such move by an European Union member state, Beijing's top graft buster said on 30 November 2018.
- NOVEMBER 23, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: XINJIANG AUTHORITIES SENTENCE UYGHUR PHILANTHROPIST TO DEATH FOR UNSANCTIONED HAJJ
Authorities in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have sentenced a prominent Uyghur businessman and philanthropist to death for taking an unsanctioned Muslim holy pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, according to his brother, RFA reported o
- OCTOBER 29, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTY
DRUG PRODUCERS EXECUTED IN SOUTH CHINA
Two drug makers were executed on 26 October 2018 in south China's Hainan Province for manufacturing drugs, according to a local court.
OCTOBER 2, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: COURT HANDS SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE TO EVICTEE WHO KILLED OFFICIAL
A court in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi has handed a suspended death sentence to an elderly man convicted of the killing of a local official during the forced demolition of homes in his village, RFA reported on September 29, 2018.
OCTOBER 1, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: PROMINENT UYGHUR INTELLECTUAL GIVEN TWO-YEAR SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR ‘SEPARATISM’
Authorities in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have given a two-year suspended death sentence to a prominent Uyghur intellectual for exhibiting “separatist tendencies,” according to an official source, RFA reported on September
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA EXECUTES MAN WHO KILLED 9 STUDENTS IN SCHOOL STABBING
China executed a man on September 27, 2018 for killing nine students and injuring 11 others in a knife attack at a middle school in central China's Shaanxi province in April, according to a post on a Chinese court's official social media account.
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTY
ARSONIST NANNY EXECUTED IN EAST CHINA
Mo Huanjing, a former nanny who had been sentenced to death for starting a fire that killed four members of a family in 2017, was executed on September 21, 2018 in east China's Zhejiang Province, a local court said.
AUGUST 7, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: DRUG LORD BILLED AS THE 'GODFATHER OF CRYSTAL METH' IS SENTENCED TO DEATH
A Chinese drug lord known as the 'godfather of crystal meth' was sentenced to death.
- AUGUST 2, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINESE 'TRUE CRIME' NOVELIST SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR COMMITTING THE MURDERS THAT INSPIRED HIS WORK
A famous crime fiction writer in China's Zhejiang Province has turned out to be a robber with four deaths on his conscience.
JUNE 23, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: 10 EXECUTED FOR SERIES OF DRUG CRIMES
Ten drug traffickers were executed in Guangdong province after an appeals court upheld their earlier conviction and pronounced sentence.
MAY 2, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TWO MYANMAR DRUG DEALERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
A court in southwest China's Yunnan Province sentenced two people from Myanmar to death for drug trafficking and killing a Chinese policeman.
APRIL 25, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: JURORS TO ATTEND DEATH PENALTY CASES
Chinese jurors are expected to participate in hearing cases in which defendants may face a death penalty, a draft law said.
- MARCH 30, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA'S 'JACK THE RIPPER' SENTENCED TO DEATH
A Chinese court sentenced a 54-year-old man dubbed the country's "Jack the Ripper" to death for the rape and murder of 11 women and girls over the course of 14 years, state television reported.
MARCH 28, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FORMER VICE MAYOR SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR CORRUPTION
Zhang Zhongsheng, the former vice mayor of Luliang City in north China’s Shanxi Province, was sentenced to death for taking bribes of more than 1 billion yuan (US$159 million).
- JANUARY 12, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MURDERER SENTENCED TO DEATH AFTER 8 YEARS AT LARGE
A court in east China's Jiangxi Province sentenced a man to death for killing a 17-year-old girl and raping her body eight years ago.
- JANUARY 1, 2018ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In February 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes
In February 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes
DECEMBER 18, 2017ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: THOUSANDS WATCH AS 10 PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SPORT STADIUM
A court in China has sentenced 10 people to death, mostly for drug-related crimes, in front of thousands of onlookers before taking them away for execution.
- JUNE 24, 2017ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINESE COURTS SENTENCES 13 DRUG DEALERS TO DEATH IN FRONT OF THOUSANDS
In a joint court case by the Shanwei Intermediate People's Court and the Lufeng People's Court in China, 13 men and women on trial for drug charges were sentenced to death in front of crowds as big as 10,000.