BEIJING -- A Chinese fraudster who had her death sentence commuted to life imprisonment in July may be the last person in China to face death row for the crime.

Wu Ying, 33, was sentenced to death in 2009 for cheating investors out of 380 million yuan (61.1 million U.S. dollars) in private lending scams. Her sentence caused a public outcry and was eventually commuted to life imprisonment.

The lawmakers are considering ending the death penalty for nine crimes, including smuggling of certain items, counterfeiting, forcing others into prostitution, obstruction of law enforcers and raising funds by means of fraud, the crime of which Wu was convicted.

Liu Mingxiang, vice dean of the law school at Renmin University, considers the revision a big step forward. "No violence was involved in Wu Ying's case, despite its bad social effect," he said.

"There is a global trend against executions," Liu said. "Compared with other countries, China has many crimes for which the death penalty could be used, but some are not really applicable now."

Since reform and opening-up, economic development has rendered certain crimes less serious, he said.

The draft amendment to the Criminal Law was submitted earlier this week to the standing committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) for a first reading during the legislature's bi-monthly session, but not everyone is happy with the changes.

Tang Hui, a social campaigner whose daughter was raped and forced into prostitution is one of those with concerns about the changes..

Tang became well-known, and indeed was imprisoned herself, for persistently lobbying for harsher punishments for those guilty of the rape of her daughter and forcing her into prostitution.

"I find the amendment hard to accept," she told Xinhua in a telephone interview. "Life imprisonment is a sham, because even if someone is sentenced to life in prison, he will be released after ten or twenty years. This is not fair to the victims."

She noted that in recent years, many cases like her daughter's have been reported, often with teenagers involved. "The death penalty is the ultimate deterrent. If perpetrators of such crimes are exempted from death, surely some people will not be afraid of doing bad things, causing an increase of such crimes."

Li Zhuang, a lawyer who made his name defending organized crime suspects during a crackdown in Chongqing, understands people like Tang. As China endeavors to build a society under the rule of law, the "rule of man" mentality is deeply rooted among ordinary people, and is not easy to shake off.

"The biggest obstacle is convincing and pacifying victims and their relatives," Li said, adding that reducing executions, or even ultimately abolishing the death penalty altogether, is part of the advancement of civilization.

In response to Tang's question, Xu Tianqiao, attorney for the defendants in the case of her daughter, did not rule out the possibility of a rise in certain crimes. "Life imprisonment is also a serious punishment," he said. "Fifteen or twenty years is a long time. How many years does a man have?"

He also called for psychological support for victims and their relatives, considering lynching a real possibility if the amendment is passed.

In 2011, the NPC Standing Committee dropped the death penalty for 13 economic, non-violent crimes including some smuggling and fraud offences, forging or selling forged tax invoices, teaching criminal methods and robbing historical sites.

Liu Mingxiang saw no obvious negative effect after the change. "Even if these nine crimes are exempted from the death penalty, in the case of serious harm--if victims are killed or severely wounded--executions could take place under other charges," he said.

"The death penalty is not a barometer of social stability," Liu continued. "The best way to reduce crime is to educate people and improve public policy."