China has introduced new legislation abolishing the death penalty for people found guilty of letter of credit (L/C) fraud.

The proposal comes in the wake of pressure from legal scholars and reformers in China who argued that people guilty of relatively trivial non-violent crimes have been executed (DC World News, 24 August 2010).

Review

Several financial crimes no longer carry the death penalty as a result of China's decision in 2007 that all verdicts involving capital punishment should be reviewed and approved by the Supreme People's Court.

These include frauds related to financial bills, the false issuance of value-added tax invoices as well as well as carrying out fraudulent activities with L/Cs.

Non-violent offences

In all, 13 non-violent offences no longer carry the death penalty. These include the smuggling of cultural relics, precious metals and rare animals and theft from ancient cultural ruins.

The new legislation came into effect on 1 May 2011.

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