Kill Fewer and Kill Cautiously? A Critical Review of Death Penalty Reforms in China

China's death penalty scenario is exceptional not only in terms of the global trend but in terms of its sheer number of executions. Since the mid-2000s, death penalty has gained momentum in China under domestic and international pressure. A series of procedural and substantive reforms have been implemented, which changed the whole picture of the death penalty regime in China. On the whole, it can be concluded that China is moving from “kill many” to “kill fewer and kill cautiously”. However, the abolition of death penalty in China is unlikely to occur in the near future since the regime is highly restricted by political structure, the lack of human rights discourse and public opinion.