The Death Penalty in China Policy, Practice, and Reform

Featuring experts from Europe, Australia, Japan, China, and the United States, this collection of essays follows changes in the theory and policy of China's death penalty from the Mao era (1949–1979) through the Deng era (1980–1997) up to the present day. Using empirical data, such as capital offender and offense profiles, temporal and regional variations in capital punishment, and the impact of social media on public opinion and reform, contributors relay both the character of China's death penalty practices and the incremental changes that indicate reform. They then compare the Chinese experience to other countries throughout Asia and the world, showing how change can be implemented even within a non-democratic and rigid political system, but also the dangers of promoting policies that society may not be ready to embrace.

Bin Liang is an associate professor of sociology at Oklahoma State University–Tulsa. He is the author of The Changing Chinese Legal System, 1978–Present: Centralization of Power and Rationalization of the Legal System, coauthor of China's Drug Practices and Policies: Regulating Controlled Substances in a Global Context, and with Hong Lu, coeditor of Jurisprudence: Contemporary Western Sociological Studies and Developments.

Hong Lu is professor in the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is the coauthor of Punishment: A Comparative Historical Perspective and China's Death Penalty: History, Law and Contemporary Practices.

Roger Hood is professor emeritus of criminology at the University of Oxford and emeritus fellow of All Souls College.