China's top legislature has adopted an amendment in the law on the country's court system.
The just-concluded latest session of the Standing Committee of China's 10th National People's Congress has announced to deprive provincial people's courts of the final say on issuing death sentences.
Wang Minyua, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, says the revision reflects a conceptual change in Chinese society.
 "The amendment indicates that our society is coming to value people's lives more, and taking the execution of the death penalty with more caution."
Provincial courts were given authority to issue final verdicts on death sentences in 1983, to crackdown on major crimes that seriously endangered public security and social order.
The amendment takes back such authority, stipulating that death penalties handed out by provincial courts must be reviewed and ratified by the Supreme People's Court.
Professor Wang Minyua views the change as a way to reduce errors in cases involving the death sentence.
"Taking back the power to review and ratify all death sentences will help to standardize the interpretation of crimes that are worthy of capital punishment, and prevent wrongful convictions."
The amendment will take into effect from January of next year.
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Director: Liu Chi