China's top legislature has adopted amendments to the Criminal Law, removing the death penalty for nine crimes. Among other changes, the amendment alters conviction standards for the crime of corruption, and extends protections for women and children.

The National People's Congress Standing Committee on Saturday voted to change the conviction standards for the crime of corruption.

The amendment says criminals convicted on serious corruption charges who have received a two-year suspended death sentence will face life imprisonment after serving two years.

The move aims to safeguard judicial fairness and prevent the most corrupt criminals from serving shorter prison terms through commutation.

Qu Xinjiu, professor at the China University of Political science and Law, says the amended statute is more reasonable than the previous one.

"Compare to the previous provision, the change is that other factors, such as the motivation and the damage to the society, will also be considered. This can rectify the unreasonable phenomenon in which only the amount of corruption is concerned. Of course, the level of corruption is still the most important factor to consider."

The new rule mainly targets officials who illegally seek commutation, parole or non-prison sentences.

At the same time, the amendments also stipulate that human traffickers must face harsher criminal penalties.

Professor Qu Xinjiu says that, compared with previous revisions, the change is relatively substantial.

"The old version stipulated that the crime could be remitted if one didn't abuse or rape the trafficked women or children, or impede the rescue, which means the police would not press charges. But the law has changed and now those actions will only alleviate your penalty, which is a world of difference from the original version."

The revised law also repealed the crime of sex with underage prostitutes and reclassified it as rape, meaning it involves a tougher punishment.

Under the previous law, people who have sex with prostitutes less than 14 years old face a maximum of 15 years in prison, while those convicted of raping a child may face the death sentence.

The revision comes after heated debates among many legal professionals questioning whether to scrap the crime of sex with underage prostitutes since it was written into the Criminal Law in 1997.

The top legislature has also removed the death penalty for nine crimes at the end of a six-day bimonthly session.

The nine crimes include smuggling, counterfeiting currency and raising funds by means of fraud, among other things.

After removing the death penalty for these crimes, those convicted will face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.