Taking Capital Punishment Seriously

Abstract

Although Asia is the most important region of the world when it comes to capital punishment, it is also one of the most understudied. This article identifies four research questions that deserve attention from students and scholars who believe taking capital punishment seriously requires studying Asia seriously too. What are the empirical contours of capital punishment in contemporary Asia? What are the histories of capital punishment in Asia? Can Western theories of capital punishment explain patterns and changes in Asia? And what is the future of capital punishment in Asia? If researchers take the trouble to explore these questions, the death penalty will not only become an interesting window into law and society in Asia, but Asia will prove to be an instructive window into the death penalty-the gravest real-life problem in the law.

On the Road to the Rule of Law: Crime, Crime Control, and Public Opinion in China

“…Although these examples show that public opinion is important for Chinese criminal justice, yet the attitudes towards punishment in China are seriously understudied, even with respect to the most controversial sanction, the death penalty (Johnson and Zimring 2006). Only few surveys have touched the issue of the death penalty.…”