Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law

The present project is concerned with the significant role that public opinion plays in the debate surrounding the death penalty and criminal policy in the People’s Republic of China, including possible public reaction to any planned abolishment of the death penalty. As is the case in many countries, numerous surveys have confirmed that the death penalty has much support amongst the general populace in China. Thus, public opinion is a crucial factor that could heavily influence, if not completely stall, the policy debate concerning the abolishment of the death penalty. Moreover, in certain cases public opinion can influence judicial decisions – especially those decisions as to whether or not the accused should be sentenced to death.

Even in countries where the death penalty has been abolished, occasional calls for its reinstatement can still be heard, especially after a particularly gruesome or unfathomable crime has caught the public’s attention. Whether the application and/or abolishment of the death penalty should be dependent on public opinion is, however, questionable. The goal of the present project is to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between the death penalty and public opinion in China. In so doing, it concentrates on answering the following questions:

1. What characterizes public opinion and how is it defined in the present state of research?
2. Which methods can be used to measure the public opinion and which methodological problems will influence the significance of the surverys' results?
3. Which concrete factors influence the endorsement of the death penalty?
4. How should law makers react to public opinion concerning the death penalty?
5. How is public opinion on the death penalty exhibited in China?
6. What influence does public opinion on the death penalty have on legislative and judicial practice in China?

The methodical basis of the project is orientated around a population questionnaire that is to take place in China. The questionnaire incorporates a number of questions pertaining to the death penalty. Supplementary resources will also be evaluated: in particular documents regarding current Chinese criminal policy and documents concerning the political anti-crime campaigns of recent years which have often purposefully aimed at inducing a feeling of safety amongst the broader population. With regard to the present social conditions in China, it is the concrete expectation of the project that the maintenance of public security is most likely to impact upon public opinion to the death penalty, though idealistic attitudes to retaliation will also play a role. As such, these important aspects will receive special emphasis in the conception of the questionnaire.

Up to this point in time, the project has concentrated on collating relevant legal literature on the death penalty as well as on the applicable theoretical and methodical literature for the research inquiry. Moreover, information relating to methods of legislative and judicial death penalty practice in China has also been collected. In 2006 the selection of the questions and the technical preparation for the planned questioning in China were scheduled to be carried out. A websurvey was conducted in summer 2007 with 896 Chinese, 213 U.S. American, and 515 German students from eight German universities. The completion of the research report is expected in 2010.

The report seeks not only to present suggestions on the reform of the death penalty in the People's Republic of China, but also to discuss possibilities for its abolishment and the various ways whereby such an abolishment could be achieved.