中国死刑改革的回顾与展望

Retrospect and Prospect of China's Death Penalty Vefovms

近年来,中国的死刑削减取得了很大的进步,主要表现在:一是以2007年1月1日最高人民法院收回死刑核准权为标志的从司法上慎用死刑;二是以2011年2月25日全国人大常委会通过的《刑法修正案(八)》为标志的取消13个非暴力犯罪的死刑。中国还应继续从司法上和立法上做出努力,进一步压缩死刑。在目前死刑还不能彻底废除前,未来中国的死刑制度改革还应包括:把死刑复核程序改造为第三审程序,至少是控、辩、审三方都在场的公开听证程序;废止枪决,统一用注射来执行死刑;把死刑的执行主体与宣判主体相分离;建立死刑案件的特赦制度。

Death penalty in China has attracted the attention of international communities because of the unknown figures of executions and various types of capital offences.This paper reviews the recent development on the reform of the death penalty system in China since the amendment of Criminal Law of the People＇s Republic of China（Criminal Law） in 1997,introduces the general principles of killing less and cautious executions in judicial practice,and analyses major changes in 2007 when the Supreme People＇s Court took back the decentralized power of reviewing and approving the death penalty in some types of capital offences,and discusses the major legislative changes on reducing the death penalty in the Eighth Amendment to the Criminal Law in 2011,through which 13 types of capital offences were abolished at one time.At the end of the paper,the author further puts forward his views on further reform of the death penalty systems in China.