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Execution for Body Parts: A Case of State Crime

The media has only recently begun to scrutinize China for the alleged practice of harvesting the organs and skin of its executed prisoners. According to several ‘leaks’ in the mainstream media, China is using the body parts of its executed for profit in the growing markets of organ transplantation and cosmetics. However, despite the appearance of this being a new phenomenon, evidence suggests that the harvesting of prisoners’ organs has a rather lengthy history in China, beginning in the late 1970s. This article outlines the development of organ transplantation as a lucrative business in China, discusses the techniques used by the Chinese government to extract organs and skin from executed prisoners, and develops an argument for why this practice constitutes a case of state crime. Additionally, this article considers the failures of the Chinese criminal justice system at all levels of criminal prosecution to adhere to international human rights laws regarding the administration of justice and the death penalty, and to uphold its own criminal procedural laws.