China’s top legislature adopted a change to the law on the country’s court system on Tuesday requiring all death sentences to be approved by the Supreme People’s Court.
The amendment to the country’s organic law on the people’s court will come into effect on January 1, 2007. It is believed to be the most important reform on capital punishment in China in more than 20 years. The amendment deprives the provincial people’s courts of the final say on issuing death sentence, stipulating that death penalties handed out by provincial courts must be reviewed and ratified by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC). [Full Text]