A Stitch in Haste

The BBC:

China carried out at least 3,400 executions last year, according to rights group Amnesty International.

That is more than was carried out by all other countries combined, AI says.
...
At the moment, Chinese citizens can be sentenced to death for crimes such as corruption and robbery, but there is a debate under way over whether those who commit non-violent crimes should be exempt.
...
The Chinese media has given widespread coverage to two wrongful convictions this year -- a butcher executed for murder in 1989 was proved innocent when his alleged victim was found alive, and a man was freed after 11 years in jail when his wife, whom he was accused of killing, was also found alive.

Amnesty International in fact believes the 3,400 number to vastly underreported, with the actual number possibly close to 10,000. The United States executed 59 people in 2004, and some consider us barbarians just for having that many.

I'm not unconditionally opposed to the death penalty; neither am I opposed to considering foreign law in helping to define "cruel and unusual punishment." But I do think that people who are executed should: (a) actually be guilty, of (b) something more heinous than robbery.

If we're uncivilized for just having the death penalty, then what is China, with its "capital punishment on steroids" policy?