Chinese chief justice alludes to death penalty reform News
Chinese chief justice alludes to death penalty reform

[JURIST] In a Supreme Court report to the National People's Congress, China's Chief Justice Xiao Yang [Xinhuanet profile] said the Supreme People's Court would "further perfect second-instance judgments for criminal cases and death penalty review procedures." The government has suggested that the Supreme Court establish a special tribunal to review death penalty decisions. Currently, the lower courts administer death penalty sentences, which critics claim are inconsistently applied. Officials say these reforms could reduce death penalty convictions by 30 percent. There are 68 crimes punishable by execution in China [JURIST Countries archive], many of them non-violent. It is estimated that China executes between 5,000 and 12,000 people per year, more than any other country. The People's Daily Online has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Ku Klux Klan founded

The US hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a reaction to reconstruction efforts following the Union victory in the American Civil War. The group would later become notorious for its attacks on Black Americans, being targeted by the Enforcement Act of 1871, which imposed civil and criminal liability for deprivation of constitutional rights. Read the Enforcement Act of 1871.  

Hamid Karzai born

On December 24, 1957, Hamid Karzai was born in Karz, Afghanistan. He would go on to become in 2004 his country's first elected president after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.