Only the emperor has the authority to sentence criminals to execution at this time in China.

Under Xuanzong, capital punishment has been relatively infrequent, with only twenty-four executions in the year 730 and fifty-eight executions in the year 736.

The death penalty is abolished in China in the year 747, enacted by Xuangzong, who orders his officials to refer to the nearest regulation by analogy when sentencing those found guilty of crimes for which the prescribed punishment had been execution.

Thus, depending on the severity of the crime, a punishment of severe scourging with the thick rod or of exile to the remote Lingnan region might take the place of capital punishment. (Only twelve years later, in 759, the death penalty will be restored in response to the An Lushan Rebellion.)