Beijing, June 9 (PTI): Executions in China has dropped in the first five months of the year after the government introduced a legislation requiring the apex court to review and approve all death penalties handed down by lower courts in the country.

Data from the Beijing No 1 and No 2 intermediate people's courts suggest the number of death sentences in first trials resulting in immediate execution dropped 10 per cent year-on-year.

Spokesman for the Supreme People's Court, Ni Shouming, said the situation is similar across the country, but declined to give details. The execution figures are supposedly state secret.

He stressed that both the highest court and lower-level courts are now more careful when handing out the death penalty, China Daily reported.

"The lower courts have to be more prudent now. If a case is sent back for a re-trial by the highest court, it not only means the first judgment is wrong, but also a matter of shame for the lower court," Ni said.

From 1981, the apex court began to grant provincial courts the authority to pronounce death sentences amid rising crime.

The practice, widely criticised in recent years, came to an end on January 1 when the Supreme People's Court was given the sole power to review and ratify all death sentences.

Chen Weidong, an expert on criminal law with Renmin University of China, predicted the number of death sentences will drop 20 per cent this year.

"Leniency and more judicious use of capital punishment is the trend of the time, a concept in line with international practice," Chen said.

Earlier this year, Chief Justice Xiao Yang urged "extreme caution" in handing down death sentences, saying "capital punishment should be given only to an 'extremely small number' of serious offenders".

Those who plead guilty and provide important information; and those who are accomplices in a criminal case will receive lighter punishment, he said.

Those involved in economic crimes would be given lighter punishment if they helped recoup losses caused to the State.

"But for extremely heinous cases with iron-clad evidence, the death penalty will still be passed down," the spokesman added.

Ni said the apex court had completed the first draft of a guideline on death penalty for four categories of crimes -- murder, robbery, drug-trafficking and intentional injury -- which mostly resulted in the death penalty.

Last year, 889,042 people were convicted by Chinese courts and 153,724 received sentences of longer than five years. The figure includes life terms and executions.