MAINLAND legal experts are calling for tighter restrictions on capital punishment, saying the penalty has been used extensively to deter a wide range of crimes.
The experts, who made the call at a legal reform conference, said capital punishment should be reserved for criminals who committed violent offences.
In addition to limiting use of the death penalty, the experts suggested that as China moved towards a market economy, the focus of legal reform should shift to commercial crime.
The semi-official Hong Kong China News Agency said yesterday the delegates had put forward 'original new ideas' at the meeting.
These included standardising punishments and making penalties for companies more severe than those for individuals.
Moreover, they suggested the Chinese judiciary should give clear-cut guidelines on the calculation of fines and that dereliction of duty by civil servants should be considered a serious offence under the penal code.
