The death penalty in chinese history is known to very brutal method and it has executed viciously in a variety of ways. In times past, the situation of many other countries on the death penalty system almost exactly same to it of China, the death pena...
The death penalty in chinese history is known to very brutal method and it has executed viciously in a variety of ways. In times past, the situation of many other countries on the death penalty system almost exactly same to it of China, the death penalty is not the unique face of some countries or some history.
The death penalty has been abolished especially in many western european countries, particularly since 20th century. As of 2009, a hundred and thirty five countries have now abolished the death penalty in either law or practice. But Many countries in Asia such as China, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan and Korea etc still maintain death penalty system in law. Many people particularly including thousands of chinese people are executed every year in the world even though the number of it is unofficial or inaccurate. China seems to be accounted for almost 80 percent of all executions.
The controversy over death penalty system is very intensive. Whatever, the justification of the pro and con about the death penalty, each opinion side has its own foundations of value and explanation in many dimensions like philosophy, theology, law, sociology. China has its own reasons for maintaining the death penalty. They are in the following.
First, China has many population of 1.3 billion and the size of the population is too huge to control by single centralist control government. This situation is a good ground for the maintenance of the death penalty system. Therefore the authorities of chinese government has regarded it as a necessity for the preservation of law and order.
Many countries including the United States of America have death penalty system, in those countries many people believe that the realization of justice come to true through maintenance death penalty system and the execution of death penalty. Sometimes some States of U.S.A are blamed for a role of maintaining the death penalty.
Second, chinese people are so accustomed to confucian cultural tradition of China and the custom of ancient chinese punishment system, even in modern time. This shows that it is very difficult to change the custom and the culture. The death penalty is regarded as a kind of the phenomenon of the chinese culture.
But the confucianism has many dimensions, one of it is expectation of the reform and improvement in human character, it can be reflected in the chinese criminal law by supplement. The stay of the death penalty system in the present chinese criminal law could be a good example for improvement even though some ambiguous meaning of its clause. It is given 2 years the condemned prisoners to change their mind and attitude and then it is decided whether the death penalty is executed or not.
Third, the concept of Human Right and humanitarianism is more toward European culture. The history of the western countries is not so understandable to the China about the human right. Chinese understanding over these is more reciprocal among people and has the conception of not too much focusing on the protection of one individual. Even though there is the diverging understanding of Human Right, China also is making the good concept of harmonious society and the world, the meaning of harmony needs to have the abolishment of the death penalty system at least.
Fourth, most people including government in China has very careful stance about the abolishment of the death penalty. The confidence of chinese people toward government is so different from it of western countries, it gives some ground for chinese government to have leading role of maintenance of death penalty. China has a plan to abolish the death penalty system from nonviolent crime gradually by 2050.
The life is the most important factor in human in this world. The realization of justice is also based on the life. The justice without life is just for a kind of revenge and only have some effect in the society for the protection of social order. Each government should pursue the safety of civil people and the protection of every single people in the countries at the same time. Death penalty is relatively easy way to have a justification though sacrifice of life. The potential side effects of the condemned criminal is serious than expectation. Each government needs to make good programs not using capital punishment for the reconciliation and the prevention of the crime effortfully.
China has the goal of harmonious society, it means every people can lead happy life at home and in the society furthermore in the world even though the concept of the harmonious is controversial. Happy and satisfied life is based on basic factor in our life like clothing, food, housing. But the most important and fundamental thing in harmonious society can be the individual life protection itself.
The criminal also has the right to keep the life even though he committed the crime not only because he has the life in the social circumstance that is not properly controlled by the government but also because the government doesn't have any reasonable grounds to deprive the life of the criminal.
Therefore the governments have to do something better to the criminal and the victim beyond the revenge between the criminal and the victim. For example, many programmes for reconciliation including the compensation can be the measure for the conflict solution before and after the crime occurrence. The death penalty can be abolished through the dispute and conversation for a long time in a country or among the countries from different culture. From these experience the complete abolishment of the death penalty that china wants to have in the year of 2050 will come to us quickly and naturally.
The harmonious society in the world will come true and be realized for everyone by protecting the life basically and sharing the foundation of the value of the law by the demand of the globalization of market and culture.