WE KNOW THAT, TOGETHER, WE CAN END THE DEATH PENALTY EVERYWHERE.

Every day, people are executed by the state as punishment for a variety of crimes – sometimes for acts that should not be criminalized. In some countries it can be for who you sleep with, in others it is reserved for acts of terror and murder.

Some countries execute people who were under 18 years old when the crime was committed, others use the death penalty against people who suffer mental problems. Before people die they are often imprisoned for years on “death row”. Not knowing when their time is up, or whether they will see their families one last time.

The death penalty is cruel, inhuman and degrading. Amnesty opposes the death penalty at all times – regardless of who is accused, the crime, guilt or innocence or method of execution.

We have been working to end executions since 1977, when only 16 countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Today, the number has risen to 140 – nearly two-thirds of countries around the world.

It is shameful that so many states are essentially playing with people’s lives

Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International

CHINA’S LONG ROAD TO DEATH PENALTY REFORM

China threw out a number of death sentences in 2014, but is this a sign of real progress for the world’s top executioner? Chinese human rights lawyer Teng Biao comments.

I co-founded the non-profit China Against the Death Penalty network in 2010 and have been involved in many death penalty cases. As a result, I know that acquittals are very rare in China’s flawed judicial system. So I was somewhat surprised that a number of death sentences and convictions were overturned last year.

Hugjiltu, a teenager from Inner Mongolia, was one of them. He was cleared 18 years after his wrongful execution for murder.

In Hugjiltu’s case, his family had tried for years to prove his innocence. In the case of Nian Bin, [a shopkeeper] who had been convicted of murder, it took three appeals and six years before the court ordered a retrial that ended in his high-profile acquittal last year. If this feels like a long time, the fact is the process typically takes far longer. I know of lawyers and family members who have gathered evidence and appealed for 20 years or longer, and who are still waiting.

Playing to public opinion

Despite these well publicized acquittals, I am still skeptical. These cases captured attention, but I don’t see them as progress – they are not signs of judicial or political reform. To some extent, the acquittals are aimed at appeasing public anger over miscarriages of justice. In reality, top leaders do not want meaningful change.

Cases like Hugjiltu’s and Nian Bin’s reflect a problem with the whole judicial and legal system. Torture is strictly banned under Chinese law, but in practice it is very widespread. Police officers who use torture are rarely punished, and the evidence extracted by torture is used by judges even though the law forbids it. The main reason is that the judicial system is not independent. Another reason is that it is difficult for the media, which is controlled by the state, to report on cases of torture.

Photos: © William Wan /The Washington Post via Getty Images