Professor Lin Wei, one of The 8th National Ten Outstanding Young Jurists, vice president of China Youth University for Political Sciences(CYUPS), as well as the vice president of the 1st criminal court of the Supreme People’s Court, gave a lecture named “Is Death Penalty Should Be Banned”. Professor Ouyang Benqi hosted the lecture, and professor Wei Changdong from Law Institute of Shanghai Academy of Social Science served as panelist.
Professor Lin Wei always pay attention to death penalty. On the one hand, as a scholar he studied a lot about death penalty; on the other hand as a judge of the Supreme People’s Court, he also knew the reality and practice of it. Firstly, professor Lin introduced the existence or abolishment of death penalty in the world, and compared it in developed country with developing country, especially those with large population. Then, professor Lin explained the sentence and execution of death penalty, and enumerated some common crimes such as drug crimes. He pointed out that to abolish death penalty or not, it is a constitutional question, and only from this perspective can the problem be solved. At last, professor Lin gave his own opinion about the how to control death penalty, how to defend suspects in death penalty case and the standards of applying death penalty.
As a specialist in death penalty problems, professor Wei Changdong commented on professor Lin’s lecture. He thought, the existence or abolishment of death penalty was not only a legal problem, but a political option. It is influenced by many factors, and we can not just follow the example of other countries.
