Destiny of the Death Penalty in China in the Contemporary Era

This paper is a study on the abolishment of death penalty in China. The author first reviewed the ancient death penalty in China, looked at the history of death penalty from its evolution and reform, then examined the status quo of China’s death penalty, and brought forward a practical question of what course should the flourishing death penalty in China follow in the international trend of abolishing and restricting death penalty. In this regard, the author analyzed the conditions for abolishing death penalty from the perspectives of public opinion’s influence, choice of politicians, control of crimes and structure of criminal penalty. He also designed a course for China to restrict and abolish death penalty from the legislation setting and judicial restriction, expecting to find a practical way to abolish death penalty.