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BBC.co.uk
Ding Yu, the host of China's "Interviews Before Execution" TV show is seen conducting an interview with a convict on death row in a new BBC documentary.
BEIJING – "I went to see your brother and sisters. They all know that you are leaving this world. But, sorry, they didn’t want to see you."
"I don’t want to see them either. Let me die," the man said, wiping his teary eyes. Two policemen stood behind him while a microphone was pointed at him.
"Is there anything you want me to tell your brother and sisters?"
"No. I did something wrong. I killed my mother. "
This exchange was a conversation between TV hostess Ding Yu and Bao Rongting, a convicted murderer, just a few hours before he was executed on Nov. 20, 2008. It was broadcast on "Interviews Before Execution," a weekly TV program, that aired on the Legal Channel in China’s central-eastern Henan Province for over five years.
Starting in late 2006, the hour-long show attracted millions of viewers and ranked among the top-ten TV programs in the province. Every Saturday night, almost half of Henan’s 94 million residents tuned in to watch the show, which was not available to viewers outside the province.
The show has now gained international attention since the BBC aired a documentary, "The Execution Factor," on Monday. A Chinese production company, LIC, worked with the BBC and PBS International, which will soon launch its own documentary on the show and its host, Ding.
Last words
Ding interviewed 226 prisoners on death row. Most of the prisoners were executed afterwards, but some received a death penalty "pardon" with a few years of reprieve, which usually means a life sentence in China.
A former law student, Ding’s journalistic style is similar to many female Chinese primetime news anchors: She has short hair, a patient-tone with her interviewees, is well-dressed – but not ostentatious – and her questioning style is straightforward, not dramatic
She interviewed a husband who killed his ex-wife because he "was still in love with her," a teenage girl who ruthlessly strangled her best friend over a trivial quarrel, and a wife who burned her husband to death after suffering years of domestic abuse.
Ding was particularly blunt with one unrepentant interviewee, saying: "I’m glad you got caught. You are a scumbag." One episode featured a man yelping, "I’m sorry," and kneeling down on the ground hours before his execution. In another, right before his execution a convict asked her: "Can I shake hands with you?"
The producers say the aim of the show was to act as a deterrent to other would-be criminals. And while there are up to 55 crimes in China that carry a potential death penalty sentence, the show focused exclusively on cases of violent murder. The show also got Henan province’s High Court approval for each case that was featured.
"Many people say I’m an angel and devil. I never thought myself as an angel, because it’s work that puts me into contact with these people. I see myself more as a witness," Ding told the BBC in their 50-minute-long documentary.
While 58 countries in the world impose the death penalty, China is believed to have the highest number of executions annually. The exact number is considered to be a "state secret," but the government argues it’s dropped steadily since early 2007 when the Supreme Court took back the right to have the final say on all death verdicts from local courts.
A 2011 report from Amnesty International indicates China executed thousands of people in 2010.
While it’s hard to determine the exact number, Ding’s show does offer some indication of how big they are, according to He Weifang, a law professor at Peking University. "Ding Yu interviewed 226 prisoners sentenced to death in five years. My guess is all these cases were tried in Henan Province and they only represent part of the whole situation. You can imagine how big the number is nationwide,” He commented on his blog.
Many scholars and lawyers have argued for the abolishment of the death penalty, but in a country with rampant corruption (which is also a capital crime over a certain financial amount), there seems to be little real movement to outlaw it.
Backlash
With all the international attention on the show, there have been concerns about whether or not it would continue to air.
"We were very worried about the consequences after the documentary aired. Some media have distorted our program," Shirley Cheng, a producer from the Chinese production company LIC, told NBC News by phone. "We didn’t do it to discuss the death the penalty. We just wanted to record the process."
A BBC report on Monday claimed the show was taken off the air by Henan TV last Friday. When NBC News reached Henan Legal Channel and asked about it, we were told that was not the case.
The temporary "disappearance" of the show is apparently only making room for a new show, and "Interview before Execution" will come back on air in about six weeks.
However, on the channel’s official website, no links to Ding Yu’s program can be found, while information about other shows is available.
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If sociopathic criminal behavior is indeed predestined by our genes and the unconscious and subconscious urges they create, then hell shouldn't be eternal, but only temporary. People who have had a near death experience have often reported having undergone a karmic or purgatorial life review, where they reexperienced every moment of their lives, and at the same time felt what it was like to be on the receiving end of their actions, including those that caused others physical and/or emotional pain. A very educative process indeed.
I don't understand what the big deal is about the show in China. Is it that the show in China comes across as tasteless because they interview so close to the execution? Not that I'd sit and watch it. I like I.D. and try to watch the 1st episode of new shows though I don't always watch the rest. I just watched a premiere on I.D. not even a week ago called "On Death Row". It's a documentary/mini series from filmaker Werner Herzog in which he interviews the inmates one-on-one.
........ love to see her do an interview with Dick Cheney and little Georgie Bush , just hours before they are executed.
In this country we let murders go free. Let's see now, my father and brother raped me. My daughter drowned in a swimming pool, put in the car to rot, then put tape on her mouth so her dead body wouldn't say anything and dumped her close to her home. The jury "NOT GUILTY". Let's see now, a football player is driving his white SUV down the road with a half dozen police cars behind him, doesn't stop until he gets home, his wife and a poor guy who just happened to be there are murdered. The jury " We're sending a message to the Los Angeles police department. NOT GUILTY". Only in america. That's why they're going to try that soldier in Afghanistan, because his lawyer could use our law to get him off because of the stress of war "which he didn't start". The Afghans have lied to U.S. forces, hid the taliban from them and according to the news that town was a haven for the taliban. But of course a bunch of do nothing Generals will give him the death penalty and Obama will have no choice but to sign the death penalty instead of saying "we're sending a message to the Afghan people not to hide or lie about the taliban".
The Chinese typically send a bill for the rifle bullet used to execute their family members in China. Maybe the similar bills be sent to the families of the people on death row in the world countries for their executions. The great state of Texas would make millions by charging for the rope used in their hangings. Utah could advertize for firing squad members and I am sure some would gladly provide their own ammo free. Public executions were normal events in most countries and the mid East countries still have public beheadings. There are underground videos of public execution available to satisfy anybody who has that kink. Watching someone getting elctrocuted would change a persons view on the death penalty I bet.
A hot Sadist outfit and a whip would do wonders for ratings! Repent! SNAP! Repent I say! SNAP!
Exorcism on the air would be cool and help the Catholic church's coffers. And hidden cameras in school gyms to catch pedophiles in live action! Put it on right after girls gone wild for the EEEEEEW! crowd and the voyeurs among us
Let's make a deal! behind door number one is an immediate hideous death of their choosing. Behind door #2, life at hard labor, and behind door #3 a complete pardon and a virgin tossed in. Let the drums roll
Wheel Of Misfortune! Spin the wheel dude, spin the wheel
I got it! - the most outlandish confessions to O'reilly the Priest. Names and faces altered to protect the guilty. Could do a lawyer and doctor show too!
Becareful of what you ask for....
There but for the Grace of God go you or I...
Sometimes life stirs up the perfect storm ,just to test you at all your worldy wisdom and ways...
No one enters this life with preconcieved notions of all that they will do or go through.
Many life altering decisions are made in split second timing ,with no chance of unwinding.
Too all who see some wisdom in this point of view ,remember your jokes concerning this issue were made in the same amount of time and with the same amount of thought as ,those who you sit in judgement on.
Good bye, yellow brick road!
Organized religion has caused more needless deaths in recorded history then any other reason I can think of. Sure Stalin killed over 39 million of his political enemies but thats a drop in the bucket. The Mid East religions say behead the infidels is their solution. They also kill innocent people with car bombs and suicide bomb vests in crowded places. Turning that area's deserts into a sheet of molten glass is the only solution that will fix those problems.
This show will take off,its like eating the forbidden fruit,the opening
of pandoras box.New form of entertainment.
No long appea;s process....bullit to the head.. quick easy and they send the bill for the bullit to the relatives...do we need to learn something here by chance