China's highest court is working on a plan to take in lawyers and law school 
teachers as senior judges as it prepares to reassume its authority to review 
death penalty cases. 
A candidate list of lawyers and law teachers who have decade-long experience 
in criminal lawsuits has been sent to the Supreme People's Court (SPC) by 
provincial judicial organs, Xiong Xuanguo, vice-president of the SPC, said. 
Those with strong political qualifications and a sense of responsibility will 
be chosen as judges on death penalty reviews, he said without specifying any 
possible figure. 
The SPC had been responsible for reviewing death penalty cases until 1983 
when the authority was handed down to provincial courts as part of a crackdown 
on crime. 
However, the practice of provincial courts both considering death sentence 
appeals and conducting the final review has long been criticized for leading to 
miscarriages of justice, prompting the SPC to announce plans to reassume its 
judicial authority last year. 
A timetable for the reform is still unavailable, as local courts need time to 
readjust and the SPC has to increase its pool of judges to meet the rising 
workload, analysts say. 
Over 30 judges from higher and intermediary people's courts have been chosen 
for the first batch to Beijing. 
Having received three months of training, they will have to go through a 
probationary year before officially assuming office. 
"Taking back the power of death penalty review is the final safeguard 
(against miscarriages of justice). We'll ensure the sentence is appropriate and 
follow the principle of strictly controlling the passing down of the death 
penalty," said Xiong. 
In cases where the prosecution and defence do not have conflicting opinions, 
the SPC will likely give the final verdict based on files of the first two 
hearings by local courts. 
For cases in dispute, judges may question the defendant and hear the 
prosecution arguments, but details on the possibility of open trials remain to 
be discussed. 
Video taping of death sentence appeals will begin on July 1 in addition to 
the cases being heard in open court. 
Presidents and presiding judges are required to be chief judges in appeals 
against death sentences to ensure the handling of every death penalty case 
"bears the test of time", said Chief Justice Xiao Yang. 
"All higher people's courts should proceed with trials in an independent and 
fair way and are not allowed to ask the highest court for an opinion except in 
the application of the law," he said.