Xinhua reports that China may reform its procedures for prosecuting death penalty cases:
China hinted at reform of the death penalty on Wednesday in a supreme court report to parliament that also touched issues ranging from corruption to social order in the face of rapid change…
The top court relinquished the power of final review in death penalty cases during a crime-fighting campaign in the 1980s, but the leadership has been studying how to restore that power to help regulate use of the death sentence.
Officials say the move would simplify an irregular process and some estimates say it could quickly reduce the number of executions by 30 percent.
Earlier this month, Amnesty International reported that China executed 200 people in the two weeks leading up to the Chinese new year.
