What country has the highest rate of capital punishment per capita in the world? No not China, that would be too easy, it’s Iran. Which country in the world has the highest number of executions per year? Yes, it’s China.
China absolutely loves the death penalty. Although some of the younger generation aren’t wholeheartedly for it, there are no governmental or non-governmental bodies that rally against it. In fact, public surveys show anywhere from 60% – 90% of people support capital punishment. China is so cut off from the rest of the world that I guess they just think it’s normal. Or the public surveys could just be complete bullshit… hmm…
So how many are they conducting per year? The Chinese government consider the numbers of executions to be a state secret, so figures are just estimates. In 2009 it is thought that there were around 5,000 executions, which is more than the rest of the world put together! That’s more than 13 a day, or more than one every two hours if you like. That’s a lot isn’t it?
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Over the last few years there have been a few high profile cases that have kept China’s penchant for killing in the media’s beady eye. In December 2009, British citizen Akmal Shaikh (picture below) was found carrying 4kg of heroin. Silly boy. But it transpired that Akmal, father of three, may well have been mentally ill and suffered a break down. Gordon Brown was furious but the Chinese couldn’t give a frig and dispatched him.
In July 2011 two former vice mayors, Xu Maiyong and Jiang Renjie (below) were executed for embezzlement and “abuse of power”. If they had the same judicial system in America the whole lot of them would be swinging.
In July 2013 the Chinese authorities were in the spotlight once again, and not in a good way. They executed a business man called Zeng Chengjie for illegal fundraising and financial fraud. He had rinsed around 57,000 people, so he certainly deserved a slap on the wrists and a punch in the face, but killing him is a bit much surely?
But it gets better, the reason the case hit the news in the West was that they neglected to tell his family before killing him. The official excuse was that they didn’t have his daughter’s address. ZOMG. That’s so lame, they may as well have said that their dog ate his details.
There are 55 capital offences in China currently, but not all automatically get you killed, life imprisonment is more common. Until 1997 killing a panda was punishable by firing squad. I kind of agree with that one. Others on the list include stealing guns, raping someone under 14, kidnapping and murder.
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