Chinese netizens' opinions on death sentences : an empirical examination / Bin Liang and Jianhong Liu.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Liang, Bin, 1972- author.

Contributor:

Liu, Jianhong, 1954- editor.

Series:

China understandings today.

China understandings today

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capital punishment--China--Public opinion--21st century.

Capital punishment.

Criminal justice, Administration of--China--Case studies.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Online social networks--Political aspects--China.

Online social networks.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (345 pages)

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2021.

Summary:

Few social issues have received more public attention and scholarly debate than the death penalty. While the abolitionist movement has made a successful stride in recent decades, a small number of countries remain committed to the death penalty and impose it with a relatively high frequency. In this regard, the People's Republic of China no doubt leads the world in both numbers of death sentences and executions. Despite being the largest user of the death penalty, China has never conducted a national poll on citizens' opinions toward capital punishment, while claiming "overwhelming public support" as a major justification for its retention and use. Chinese Netizens' Opinions on Death Sentences: An Empirical Examination uses a forum of public comments to explore and examine Chinese netizens' opinions on the death penalty. Based on a content analysis of 38,512 comments collected from 63 cases in 2015, this study examines the diversity and rationales of netizens' opinions, netizens' interactions, and their evaluation of China's criminal justice system. In addition, the book discusses China's social, systemic, and structural problems and critically examines the rationality of netizens' opinions based on Habermas's communicative rationality framework. Readers will be able to contextualize Chinese netizens' discussions and draw conclusions about commonalities and uniqueness of China's death penalty practice.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

One. Study of Chinese Public Opinion on Capital Punishment in a New Environment

Two. Diversity of Netizens' Opinions: The Breadth and the Depth

Three. Rationales of Netizens' Decisions: Why Do They Support or Reject Death Sentences?

Four. Interactions: How Do Netizens Respond to Each Other?

Five. Variances of Netizens' Opinions: Crime Types, Defendants and Victims, Legal Procedures, and Media Reporting

Six. Criminal Justice System and Its Professionals in the Eyes of Netizens

Seven. Social, Systemic, and Structural Problems: How Are Netizens' Opinions Embedded within the Framework of Contemporary Chinese Society?

Eight. Netizens' Discussion of Death Sentences: Rationality or Irrationality?

Nine. The Lin Senhao Case: A Live Debate of Life or Death

Ten. Public Opinion in a Unique Form

Appendix 1. Summaries of All Cases

Appendix 2. Officially Charged Crimes and Number of Offenders Being Charged

Appendix 3. Total Numbers of Netizens' Comments, Reply Comments, and Use of Foul Language

Appendix 4. Basic Reporting Statistics by Cases

Appendix 5. Select List of Foul Words

References

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-322) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472129287

0472129287

OCLC:

1266209140