Death sentence with reprieve

{{Short description|Penalty in Chinese law}}

{{Politics of China |expanded = Law }}

Death sentence with reprieve ({{zh|first=s|s=死刑缓期执行}}, abbr: {{zh|labels=no|first=s|s=死缓}}) is a criminal punishment found in chapter 5 (death penalty), sections 48, 50 and 51 of the criminal law of the People's Republic of China. It is a two-year suspended sentence where the execution is only carried out if the convicted commits further crimes during the suspension period. After the period the sentence is automatically reduced to life imprisonment, or to a fixed-term based on meritorious behavior.{{cite news |url = https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/shuju/1997/gwyb199710.pdf |title = Gazette of the State Council of the People's Republic of China |date=4 April 1997 |issue=10 |publisher=Government of the People's Republic of China |language=zh |access-date=20 August 2012 }} The reprieve is integrated into the sentence, unlike a pardon which occurs after the sentence.

Chinese courts hand down this form of sentencing as frequently as, or more often than,{{Cite journal |title=The Death Penalty in China Today: Kill Fewer, Kill Cautiously |first=Susan|last=Trevaskes|journal=Asian Survey|volume=48|number=3|date=May–June 2008|pages=393–413|doi=10.1525/as.2008.48.3.393 |hdl=10072/26121|hdl-access=free|jstor=10.1525/as.2008.48.3.393}} actual death sentences. The sentence emphasizes the severity of the crime and the mercy of the court, and comes from traditional Chinese jurisprudence.{{cite journal |title=The Death Penalty in Post-Mao China |first=Andrew|last=Scobell|journal=China Quarterly|number=123|date=September 1990 |volume=123 |pages=503–520 |doi=10.1017/S0305741000018890 |s2cid=154380257 |jstor=654154}} According to researchers, the post-2007 death penalty reforms resulted in a larger proportion of death sentences becoming suspended.{{Cite journal |title=Two Years between Life and Death: A Critical Analysis of the Suspended Death Penalty in China |first=Michelle|last=Miao|journal=International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice|volume=45|number=3|date=2016|pages=26–43|doi=10.1016/j.ijlcj.2015.10.003}} Based on the 2024 sentencing of Yang Hengjun to death with reprieve for espionage charges, Ryan Mitchell, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, stated that death with reprieve was used in recent years to reduce the rate of executions without abolishing capital punishment. He also stated that such sentences were typically reserved for serious crimes with potentially serious social consequences, and that they were rarely commuted to fixed-term imprisonment.{{Cite news|date=5 February 2024|title=What is China's suspended death sentence verdict?|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/what-is-chinas-suspended-death-sentence-verdict |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217074524/https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/what-is-chinas-suspended-death-sentence-verdict |archivedate=2024-02-17 |agency=Reuters |work=The Straits Times |location=Singapore}}

The 2015 criminal law amendment allowed sentences to restrict commutation to only life imprisonment without possibility of parole, for convictions of bribery or "plundering the public treasury".{{cite news |script-title=zh:二十大前夕 公安高官傅政华孙力军被判终身监禁意味着什么 |url=https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-63043715 |work=BBC News |date=2022-09-27 |language=zh-Hans}} This was the case with Bai Enpei and Fu Zhenghua.{{cite news|title=Former senior legislator sentenced to death with reprieve|url=https://www.ecns.cn/2016/10-09/229361.shtml|agency=Xinhua News Agency|date=2016-10-09|access-date=2019-01-29}}{{cite news |title=China's former senior official Fu Zhenghua sentenced to death with reprieve |url=https://english.news.cn/20220922/a52a883cbc404dee90bf86a580cfe8fe/c.html |access-date=16 May 2025 |agency=Xinhua News Agency |date=2022-09-22 |language=en}}