Plunderbund

Death penalty reform is having a positive effect in China.

The Chinese authorities are expecting fewer executions this year than at any time in the past decade, according to state media.

The reduction is due to a new rule which means the country’s top court must review every death sentence.

Automatic appeals. Who knew?

Of course, that doesn’t mean things are all rosy in China.

• China is believed to execute more people than rest of the world combined
• Non-violent crimes such as tax fraud and embezzlement carry death penalty
• Other crimes include murder, rape, robbery and drug offences
• China does not publish official figures on executions
• Many cases are based on confessions and trials often take less than a day, observers say

Compare that with our own great state of Texas:

• Texas executes more people than any other state in the Union
• People can be executed if they had absolutely nothing to do with a crime
• Many inmates claim they have been railroaded, and death row inmates are disproportionately black

In fact, some back-of-the-envelope figuring shows that rate of executions relative to overall population in Texas is 60% of the figure for China. Sixty percent. The top country in the world for executing it’s own citizens, and one of the worst human rights abusers out there, executes 1.7 people for roughly every 1.24 million citizens, while Texas executes 1 person for roughly every 1.24 million citizens.

Not a lot to be proud of there.