Xiao Yang

Xiao Yang (; 1 August 1938 – 19 April 2019) was a Chinese judge and politician. He served as minister of Justice from 1993 to 1998 and president of the Supreme People's Court from 1998 to 2008. His tenure as China's Chief Justice was marked by the implementation of major reforms. A key reform was his restoration of the Supreme Court's right of final review for capital punishment cases, which resulted in a sharp reduction in the number of executions in China after 2006. Another of his reforms was to professionalize the rank of judges by requiring most new judges to pass the National Judicial Examination. He also advocated judicial independence in the country, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Early life Xiao was born in August 1938 in Heyuan, Guangdong, China. He entered the Department of Law of the Renmin University of China in 1957 and graduated in 1962.

Career Guangdong In 1962, Xiao taught at the Political Science and Law School of Xinjiang for a few months before returning to his home province of Guangdong to work in the government of Qujiang County of Shaoguan. He joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1966.

Deputy Procurator-general and Minister of Justice In 1990, Xiao was transferred to the national government to serve as deputy procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate. He initiated a number of reforms, including the establishment of a legal aid system in China. the most important being the restoration of the Supreme Court's right of review for capital punishment. One of Xiao's tactics was to encourage the use of death sentence with reprieve (which is typically commuted to life sentence) as an alternative to death sentence. He also seized upon the signature rhetoric, "Harmonious Society", of then-CCP general secretary Hu Jintao, and argued that a harmonious society called for fewer executions.