• davel
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        5 months ago

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_sentence_with_reprieve

        According to the criminal law […], it gives the death row inmate a two-year suspended sentence of the execution. The convicted person will be executed if found to have committed further crimes during the two years following the sentence; otherwise, the sentence is automatically reduced to life imprisonment or a fixed-term imprisonment if the person is found to have performed deeds of merit during the two years.
        […]
        This unique sentence is used to emphasize the seriousness of the crime and the mercy of the court, and has a centuries-old history in Chinese jurisprudence.

    • Tankiedesantski [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      5 months ago

      I don’t generally support the death penalty because it’s too easy to make mistakes that can’t be undone.

      To me, the value of death penalty with reprieve is that it incentivizes people who might receive it to make full confessions of other crimes. The phrasing is that you get a life sentence if you are not found to have had committed other crimes within 2 years. The past tense here is important.

      Say I get convicted of taking bribes and it looks like I might get a death sentence with reprieve. If I’ve also, say… Forged some documents in the past then there’s an incentive for me to confess to forgery so that it can’t be used to put me to death if someone finds out about it in the next two years. I’m already going to jail for the rest of my life, but if I confess to all my crimes at least I won’t be executed