In June 2026, The Rights Practice published a new briefing paper to cast some light on the application of the death penalty under Xi Jinping, party secretary and president. 

To attempt to understand the death penalty under Xi we have tried to identify key developments at the political, legal and social level during this period. We have investigated Chinese Communist Party (CCP) policy, new laws and regulations as well as influential cases and incidents that shape the Party’s vision of security and the perceived need for the death penalty. Three interlinked goals appear to shape the use of the death penalty: strengthening the role of the CCP; addressing key threats to public and national security; and keeping the Chinese public onside.

We present the developments under Xi in a timeline from 2013 to 2026 preceded by a brief analysis of three phases that we tentatively identify as: Hu-Xi transition (2013-2017), Xi’s Rule of Law (2018-2020), and consolidation (2021-present). 

We see little evidence that Xi Jinping views the death penalty as a distinct policy instrument. Instead, we see a consolidation in the way capital punishment is being applied as a useful (and somewhat flexible) tool for Xi’s authoritarian model of crime control. The death penalty is being used to punish a range of offences that risk undermining, in Xi’s eyes, the security of the party state: from mass killings and terrorism to drug crime and corruption. 

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