On Restraint Of Death Penalty

Death penalty is the most rigorous sentence imposed in the history of mankind, which means the killing of a person by the government as punishment for a crime. Its development also undergoes the rise and decline. Nowadays, the voice of world opinion against the imposition of capital punishment is becoming louder and louder and many countries have abolished death penalty, which accords with the demand of civilization of mankind because the imposition of death sentence is against humanitarianism. Some day China will abolish death penalty, but now we can only restrain strictly the imposition of it. Comparatively, the research of death penalty in China was instituted later. Judging from the present political and cultural situation, we have not met the requirements of abolishment of death penalty now. Most of the people in China still intend not to abolish death sentence. Thus, our central task at present is to restrain but not to abolish death penalty. Because,of the particular situations, limitation and abolishment of death penalty must undergo a rather long process in China. From the angle of the Measures Concerning the Protection of the Rights of Those Condemned to Death, this article maintains that the goal of abolishment of death penalty can only be accomplished by the joint effort of the legislature and the judiciary. The article discussed the Development trend of death penalty in the world. It observes the three stages of the attitudes of the international community toward death penalty, which include affirmative, restrictive and objective ones. Then, discussed the Criteria of implementing the Measures Concerning the Protection of the Rights of Those Condemned to Death. This part introduces the contents and substantial issues of the international treaty. Then, discussed the present status in China, to reform the judicial system and the institution of death penalty and lay further restraint of death penalty. Being the core part of this article, it details this author's position of the restraint of death penalty from the angle of the legislature and the judiciary.