Some 22.91 percent of those convicted of corruption, bribery and dereliction of duty faced long prison sentences last year, while nearly two in five avoided serving time altogether, according to the Supreme People's Court. The remaining two in five people served fewer than five years in prison.

Sun Jungong, spokesperson of the Supreme People's Court, released the statistics at a press conference Wednesday, the Beijing Evening News reported.

According to Sun, Chinese courts gave heavy penalties to 17.58 percent of offenders in corruption, bribery and dereliction of duty cases in 2007, while the rate was 22.91 percent in 2012. A heavy penalty means a prison term longer than five years or the death penalty.

The rate of penalties not involving prison time was 48.75 percent in 2007 and 38.08 percent in 2012, a decline of 10 percentage points. This bucks the trend of people convicted of breaking all laws being sentenced to prison, which rose 4.61 percentage points from 2007 to 33.37 percent.

Sun said offenders recently won more lenient punishment when they confessed and compensated victims.

Gao Guijun, a senior judge of the Supreme People's Court, explained that the mitigated punishment given to the offenders who compensate victims does not mean they can buy their way out of a prison sentence. Gao also pointed out that for severe crimes, criminals would not receive lighter punishments even if they pay high compensation.

Global Times