ABSTRACT
In the run up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, international criticism of China’s human rights record has highlighted the use of the death penalty (Amnesty International 2007). While calls for a worldwide moratorium on executions have become louder, capital punishment for a large number of offences remains an integral part of Chinese criminal justice and the state executes more people than the rest of the world put together. Although global activists may try to internationalise China’s use of the death penalty, capital punishment is a domestic issue.
