hmmmm.... depending who you talk to china executes 10,000 to 15,000 people a year. something george w. bush would probably love to have happen in the USA. Original Article China decides, acts swiftly in its death-penalty cases Jim Yardley New York Times Jan. 1, 2006 12:00 AM YUJIAGOU, China - From the prison cell where he contemplated an executioner's bullet, a migrant worker named Wang Binyu gave an anguished account of his life. Unexpectedly, it rippled across China like a primal scream. For three weeks, the murders Wang committed after failing to collect unpaid wages were weighed on the Internet and in Chinese newspapers against the brutal treatment he had endured as a migrant worker. Public opinion shouted for mercy. Lawyers debated the fairness of his death sentence. Others saw the case as a bloody symptom of the harsh inequities of Chinese life. But then, in late September, the furor disappeared as suddenly as it had begun. Online discussion was censored and media coverage was almost completely banned. Then, Wang's final appeal was rushed to court. His father, never notified, only learned about the hearing by accident. His chosen defense lawyer was forbidden from participating. During the hearing, Wang, 28, shouted, "All of you are on the same side," according to his father, who lives in northern Gansu Province. "If you want to kill me, just kill me," Wang said. On Oct. 19, they did. Wang was executed so quickly, and quietly, that it took weeks for the word to fully trickle out that he was dead. China executes more people every year than the rest of the world combined. By some estimates, the number of executions is more than 10,000 a year. The government's relentless death-penalty machine has long been its harshest tool for maintaining political control and curbing crime and corruption. But it has now become a glaring uncertainty about China's commitment to the rule of law. There is widespread suspicion, even within the government, that too many innocent people are sentenced to death. This year, a raft of cases came to light in which wrongful convictions had led to death sentences, or, in one case, the execution of an innocent man. Reform or backtracking? Reforming capital punishment has become a priority within the Communist Party's legal system, partly because of international pressure to reduce abuses. Within the party-run legislative system, there is a broader debate about how to improve criminal law. But achieving those reforms is hardly certain. Hard-liners are loath to restrict the power of the police and the courts to take a tough line. Death penalty reforms scheduled to take effect in stages this year are actually little more than a return to the status quo of 1980. China is wary enough about its death-penalty system that it has long designated its number of executions as a state secret. A hint at the number came last year when a high-level delegate to the National People's Congress publicly estimated that it was "nearly 10,000." In 2004, Amnesty International documented at least 3,400 executions, out of 3,797 worldwide that year, but cautioned that China's number was probably far higher. Outside scholars have put the annual number as high as 15,000. In the fall, the People's Supreme Court announced that it would reverse a decision from the early 1980s that ceded the final review on many death-penalty cases to provincial high courts. Legal analysts say Deng Xiaoping, then the paramount leader, ordered the move out of anger that courts were moving too slowly to crack down on crime. But the shift also often meant that any semblance of due process was stripped away. Under the new policy, which takes effect next year, the People's Supreme Court will assume responsibility for reviewing all capital cases. The state news media has estimated that executions could drop as much as 30 percent. "They feel that mistakes were made in so many cases," Yi Yanyou, an associate professor at Tsinghua University Law School, said in explaining the motive for the change. Yi said the changes would be meaningful but did not represent reform. One idea for change that he offered was to require unanimous consent among judicial panels making final reviews. He Weifang, a liberal constitutional scholar at Beijing University, said the changes should improve the review process but argued that only deeper constitutional reform could remove the political pressures that can seep into many high-profile death cases. Migrant's story Wang's initial trial, on June 29, ended with a death sentence. His family was not notified of the trial date and did not attend. He seemed destined to be one of the thousands of people executed each year with little public notice. But on Sept. 4, the New China News Agency, the government's news service, published a jailhouse interview with Wang that was astonishing for its content and for the mere fact that it was printed. "I want to die," Wang said. "When I am dead, nobody can exploit me anymore. Right?" Of his crime, Wang said, "I just could not take it any longer. I had taken enough from them." But, he later added, "I should not have killed the other people. I did not mean to let it happen." He offered a lament for his fellow migrant workers. "My life is a small thing," he said. "I hope that society will pay attention and respect us." Sources in the Chinese press say the authors of the article picked the case because they thought it dovetailed with a campaign by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to help peasants. Newspapers, assuming the interview signaled official approval, jumped on the story. Interviews with legal scholars followed, with some arguing that the system should be nimble enough to give Wang a more lenient sentence. Internet discussion boards were filled with indignation.