China may consider eliminating the death penalty for certain non-violent economic crimes, according to legislation proposed to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the Financial Times reported. The potential crimes excluded from the death penalty include animal smuggling, tax evasion, forgery, teaching crime-committing methods, stealing cultural ruins and some fradeulent financial activities. In total, dropping the 13 crimes would reduce the number of crimes for which the death penalty is available by a fifth, from 68 to 55. "Considering China’s current economic and social development reality, appropriately removing the death penalty from some economy-related non-violent offences, will not negatively affect social stability nor public security," said Li Shishi, director of the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee.
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