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
- JANUARY 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In the summer of 1998 Beijing launched a nationwide...
In the summer of 1998 Beijing launched a nationwide anti-smuggling campaign, first ordering the army, law enforcement agencies and bureaucracy to turn their multi-billion dollar businesses over to central government control
- JANUARY 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In January, the Shanghai Railway Court executed a person...
In January, the Shanghai Railway Court executed a person for drug-trafficking
- JANUARY 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in...
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in January 1997
- JANUARY 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In January, in southeastern Fujian province, 5 people...
In January, in southeastern Fujian province, 5 people were executed by firing squad for smuggling, burglary and stealing cars
- JANUARY 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In January, in the northwestern region of Xinjiang,...
In January, in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, a man was executed for stabbing a Communist Party cadre to death and wounding the official's wife, daughter and mother-in-law
- JANUARY 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
It seems that China has stepped up sentencings and...
It seems that China has stepped up sentencings and executions in the run-up to sensitive anniversaries or holidays to ensure social order