law - Number of death sentences expected to drop

From the 1st of January the Supreme People's Court will review all death sentences, writes the China Daily, a move that is likely to cause a drop in their number. China executed a record number of convicts, causing no only international concern, but increasing also domestic misgivings.
While the death sentence is unlikely to disappear, not only the number will go down but also the huge differences between provinces. The Supreme People's Court had in the past suspended its right to review death sentences to give the provinces a free hand in combating crimes. But that has led to a situation where the severity of the sentence depended very much on the provincial practices.
The Supreme People's Court has added three criminal tribunals, the China Daily said, to deal with the expected extra workload.