Crimes that merit capital punishment in China include treason, murder, corruption, drug-traffiking, and occasionally even wildlife poaching. Yet despite the broad reach of the law here, the true extent of the death penalty in China remains one of the country’s most tightly-guarded state secrets. And yet China’s reliance on the death penalty has waned in recent years, as the Chinese government has instituted significant legal reforms. But how significant? And how many people are still executed each year?
Joining Kaiser Kuo to discuss these questions is Gady Epstein, the Beijing Bureau Chief for Forbes magazine. We are also pleased to welcome Joshua Rosenzweig, the Senior Manager of Research for the the Duihua Foundation in Hong Kong. A former academic who is fluent in Mandarin, Joshua has been researching human rights issues with the foundation since joining it in 2002.