The death penalty is the oldest punishment. If we want to investigate the history of the death penalty, it is that the death penalty has lasted as long as the history of China.

If we say the history of criminal law, it should have been formally formed and implemented from the period of Shang Yang's reform. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, "rites" were used to govern the world, and there was no specific legal provision. I don't know whether there was a specific criminal law in Li Kui's political reform in the early Warring States period, but the difference between them was less than 100. Therefore, the history of criminal law in China should be around 2500 years.