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
APRIL 1, 2016ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MASS NURSING HOME KILLING
A man who attacked a nursing home, killing nine people and injuring nine others in 2015, was sentenced to
MARCH 13, 2016ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TERROR CONVICTIONS NEARLY DOUBLED IN 2015
Convictions for state security crimes including "violent terrorism" nearly doubled in 2015, figures from China's top court showed today, following a "strike hard" campaign to quell unrest in the largely Muslim region of Xinjiang and crackdowns on civil so
- MARCH 13, 2016ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA HEADLINES: CHINA DEFENDS HUMAN RIGHTS IN JUDICIAL PRACTICE
A more efficient and fairer justice system has improved human rights protection in China with many wrongful
JANUARY 29, 2016ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN CONVICTED OF ABDUCTING 22 CHILDREN EXECUTED
A man convicted of abducting 22 children has been executed, China's top court said.
- JANUARY 28, 2016TajikistanDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: TAJIK NATIONAL EXECUTED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Tajik Foreign Ministry officials told RFE/RL that Hasan Yusufov, 51, was executed early in the morning.
- JANUARY 1, 2016ChinaDEATH 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 27, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China passed a controversial new anti-terrorism law that attracted deep concern in Western capitals, not
China passed a controversial new anti-terrorism law that attracted deep concern in Western capitals, not
DECEMBER 14, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR WIFE OF FALLEN POLITBURO MEMBER BO XILAI
A Beijing court has recommended that the death sentence for the wife of fallen Politburo member Bo Xilai
DECEMBER 11, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MEDICAL STUDENT EXECUTED FOR POISONING
A Chinese medical student who murdered his roommate at a prestigious Shanghai university by poisoning a drinking water dispenser was executed, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
DECEMBER 3, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FOUR SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER, FRAUD AT SHANXI MINES
Four people were sentenced to death in north China's Shanxi Province for murder, fraud and blackmail in a
NOVEMBER 25, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TRANSPLANT CHIEF DENIES BREAKING VOW TO BAN PRISONERS’ ORGANS
A top Chinese health official has denied that the country’s new organ transplant system allows organs to be
OCTOBER 17, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: HK MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN BEIJING
A Hong Kong businessman who was caught with 24 kg of cocaine in his suitcases at Beijing Capital
AUGUST 29, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: CRIMES SUBJECT TO DEATH REDUCED
China amended the country's criminal law, tightening corruption sentencing, reclassifying sex with underage prostitutes as rape and eliminating the death penalty for nine crimes, state media reported.
- JULY 9, 2015ThailandDEATH PENALTY
THAILAND CONDEMNED FOR REPATRIATION OF 109 UIGHURS TO CHINA
Thailand deported more than 100 Uighurs back to China, ignoring concerns that the ethnic minority faces persecution by the Chinese government, while protesters in Turkey, which had accepted an earlier batch of refugees, ransacked the Thai Consulate.
- JUNE 24, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: THREE DRUG SMUGGLERS EXECUTED
three people were executed in the largest drug case to be heard in Liaoning Province.
- JUNE 16, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KINDERGARTEN FOOD POISONING
A Chinese woman was sentenced to death for killing two kindergarten pupils with poisonous snacks in
- MAY 25, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA EXECUTES PATIENT WHO STABBED DOCTOR TO DEATH OVER NOSE OPERATION
China executed a man who stabbed a doctor to death over what he considered a botched nose operation,
- MAY 15, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER AFTER 17 YEARS
A former Chinese police officer was sentenced to death for homicide, 17 years after the murdered woman's
- APRIL 25, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DRUG SMUGGLER EXECUTED FOR SMUGGLING
A drug trafficker was executed in south China’s Guangdong Province following approval by the Supreme People’s Court.
APRIL 2, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: AUSTRALIAN MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
A Queensland man has been sentenced to death in China after being caught trying to smuggle methamphetamine to Australia.
MARCH 24, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: THREE PEOPLE EXECUTED FOR KUNMING RAILWAY STATION ATTACK
three people were executed for a mass stabbing that killed 31 people at a train station in Kunming in March 2014, China’s Supreme People’s Court announced in a microblog post, with authorities blaming the attack on separatists from mainly Muslim Xinjiang.
- MARCH 19, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR ARSONIST OVER LAND DISPUTE
A man has been sentenced to death in east China's Shandong province for setting a fatal fire in a dispute over land rights in March 2014.
MARCH 5, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN RECEIVES DEATH SENTENCE FOR MOLESTING BABY
A man has been sentenced to death with a reprieve in China for the sexual abuse of a two-and-a half-year-
FEBRUARY 17, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN GETS $189,000 FOR SIX YEARS ON DEATH ROW
A Chinese man who was freed after six years on death row following a wrongful murder conviction was
FEBRUARY 15, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA TO REQUIRE POLICE TO FILM ALL INTERROGATIONS
China will require police to film and record all interrogations in criminal cases to ensure that law enforcement
FEBRUARY 9, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MINING TYCOON LIU HAN EXECUTED
A Chinese mining billionaire said to have links with disgraced former security tsar Zhou Yongkang and who
- FEBRUARY 1, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: 2 FROM BANNED SECT EXECUTED FOR MURDER AT MCDONALD'S
A father and daughter have been executed in China for attacking and killing a woman who had refused to
- JANUARY 10, 2015ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: SCHOOL DEPUTY PRINCIPAL EXECUTED FOR KIDNAPPING, KILLING GIRL
Yang Haijun, former deputy principal of a primary school in north China's Hebei Province, was executed for
- JANUARY 1, 2015ChinaDEATH 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 30, 2014ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: S. KOREAN DRUG OFFENDER EXECUTED