Capital punishment in China

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in China. It is applicable to offenses ranging from murder to drug trafficking. Executions are carried out by lethal injection or by shooting. A survey conducted by The New York Times in 2014 found the death penalty retained widespread support in Chinese society.

Capital punishment is used in most East Asian countries and territories, including Japan, North Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, and Taiwan. According to Amnesty International, China executes more people than all other countries combined. The exact numbers of executions and death sentences are not publicly available, being considered a state secret by China. According to the U.S.-based Dui Hua Foundation, the estimated number of executions has declined steadily in the twenty-first century, from 12,000 each year to 2,400. However, in 2022 the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty announced that since 2007 at least 8,000 people per year were executed in China. Since 2006, the Chinese government has taken effective measures to limit use of the death penalty, proclaiming that it is doing this with the aim of completely abolishing it.

Capital punishment in China should not be confused with death sentence with reprieve, which is a form of lenient sentencing that is handed down by Chinese courts as frequently as, or more often than, actual death sentences. Death sentence with reprieve is used to emphasize the seriousness of the crime and the mercy of the court, and is sometimes inaccurately added to the number of actual death sentences.