Courts use computers to decide who should face death sentence

Judges are using computers equipped with a sophisticated legal database as an aid to determining punishments for 100 different crimes including robbery and rape by tapping in details of the crime and the mitigating circumstances.

The programme – nicknamed "penalty calculator" - then flashes up its recommended sentence on crimes including murder and stealing state secrets, which are punishable by death by firing squad in the communist nation.

The software, which was designed by a Beijinghi-tech firm as a way of reigning in corrupt judges, has already helped determine sentences in 1,500 cases over the past two years in a trial run in China's eastern Shandongprovince.

Now the programme is being extended to other provincial courts and may be eventually used in court rooms across the nation of 1.3 billion, where more criminals are put to death than anywhere else in the world.   Software designer Qin Ye has been working on the programme since 2003 and, helped by Shandonglegal officials, has loaded it with a huge database of Chinese law and case precedents.

He said: "The software is aimed at ensuring standarised decisions on prison terms. Our programmes set standard terms for any subtle distinctions in different cases of the same crime."   Wang Hongmei, chief judge in the district where the concept is being trialled, said: "The software can avoid abuse of the discretionary power of judges as a result of corruption or insufficient legal training."   However, manufacturer Boya-Yingjie Communication Science stressed the "penalty calculator" did not have the final say and said judges retain the power to determine sentences based on their individual circumstances.

Use of the programme has been lambasted by some Chinese newspapers which describe the software as an excuse for well-paid judges to be lazy and not to pay attention in drawn-out trials.

Wang Qiuhua, law professor at southern China's ShenzhenUniversity, warned judges not to be too reliant on the software. "Every single case is different and a computer may not appreciate this," he said.

Chinaexecutes more people every year than every other country in the world combined, killing them either by firing squad or lethal injection. Last year of 2,148 documented executions worldwide, 1,770 were carried out in China.

However, the real number of executions in Chinais believed by groups like Amnesty International to be closer to 8,000 because of the huge number of secret trials and unreported death penalties.

The death penalty can be given for 68 offences in China, including, bigamy, stealing petrol and tax evasion - and even computer hacking.