CHINA. CHIEF JUSTICE CALLS FOR DEATH SENTENCES TO BE IMPOSED

April 12, 2008: China's chief justice told judges to impose the death penalty and other harsh sentences for violent crimes, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The comments from Wang Shengjun, president of the Supreme People's Court, struck a markedly different tone from that of his predecessor who had campaigned to reduce death sentences to the bare minimum, and only for the most heinous crimes.
Tough punishments are needed to "increase the sense of security among the people," the agency quoted Wang as saying. "Where the law mandates the death sentence, the death sentence should be given."
Crimes involving terrorism or organized groups, violence, and those that "seriously threaten social order" should be dealt with especially harshly. (Sources: International Herald Tribune, 12/04/2008)