A Study on the Death Penalty and the Innocent Cases in China

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K01311
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 05050:Criminal law-related
• Research Institution: Hitotsubashi University
• Principal Investigator: WANG Yunhai 一橋大学, 大学院法学研究科, 教授 (30240568)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 死刑 / 中国の死刑適用 / 即時執行死刑 / ２年執行猶予付き死刑 / 厳打キャンペンーン / 認罪認罰従寛制度 / 如実供述義務 / 死刑復核制度

Outline of Final Research Achievements

By this research project the following results have been achieved.
The Death Penalty policy in China has changed in recent years. "Firstly Retention,Secondely Limitation, Finally Abolition" has been the formaldeath penalty policy in China. From 2019,a new policy-so called "Death Penalty must be sentenced in the case where it should be sentenced" was added. Death penalty sentences had been resumed from 2022 although it had suspended for several years.
In order to prevent wrong death sentence in innocent cases, many improvements on China's criminal justice system have been tried on one side, however, on the other side, the political problems that cause wrong death penalty sentence cases have not changed so much. the movement to find out wrong cases of death penalty and to relief the death row has become very weak from 2017.

Free Research Field

刑事法、比較刑事法、中国法、中国社会

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、中国の死刑適用、死刑冤罪の発生、発見、救済を、政策レベル、制度レベル、運用実務レベルに渡って多重的に検討、解明できたことは、中国の国内政治状況により研究がますます困難になっている状況の中で、同種の研究を学術的に維持し、続けていくことに大きな意義があり、日本における死刑の学術研究の一層の発展を大きく促進するものである。同時に、「死刑適用」、「死刑冤罪」という極めて専門的テーマから中国における最新の動向を追跡し、把握し、日本社会に向けても発信できた本研究は、日本の一般社会・多くの国民にとって、隣の大国でありながら、いろいろなことが起きているいまの中国を正確に見るにも大きな意義がある。