Autumn trial system

The autumn trial system (Chinese: 秋審制度) was a special judicial system in the Qing dynasty of China. During the Qing dynasty, people who committed crimes like subversion and treason were sentenced to death (Chinese: 立決). In such cases, typically, criminals could not be amnestied. Nevertheless, people who committed crimes, like murdering a junior member in the family, might be sentenced to death penalty with a suspension,^{[note 1]} called "Zhan Jianhou" or "Jiao Jianhou" in Chinese (Chinese: 斬監侯/絞監侯). In such cases, the officers in the Board of Justice (Chinese: 刑部), the Court of Judicature and Revision (Chinese: 大理寺), and the "Court of Justice" (Chinese: 都察院) would determine whether to execute criminals sentenced to "Zhan Jianhou" or "Jiao Jianhou" in the autumn by a procedure called the "autumn trial" (Chinese: 秋審制度).^[1][2]

After the autumn trial, around 10–20 percent of criminals sentenced to "Zhan Jianhou" or "Jiao Jianhou" would be executed, while other criminals could typically obtain a commutation or a suspension for one more year. A criminal having obtained suspensions in the autumn trial system for several times might also obtain a commutation de facto.^[3][4]