animals". In addition to decreasing the number of capital offenses, in Article 3 of Amendment VIII, the article states that seniors aged 75 years old and older should only be sentenced to death when they have caused the death of another person by cruel and unusual means. Article 1 states that seniors aged 75 years old or older who have committed crimes may be given lighter sentences. For those seniors who have committed crimes of negligence, their sentences can be lighter or mitigated. In addition, Article 19 dictates that criminals less than 18 years old at the time of a crime who are sentenced to prison terms of less than five years do not have to report to jail in situations of army recruitment and employment. Later the same year, the Supreme People's Court ordered lower courts to suspend death sentences for two years and to "ensure that it only applies to a very small minority of criminals committing extremely serious crimes. This series of actions is thought of as marking the beginning of China's tenuous start toward completely abolishing the death penalty. While many critics are skeptical of Amendment VIII bringing long-term change, the reforms represent a gradual transition towards greater state respect and protection of human rights. In practice, China traditionally uses the firing squad as its standard method of execution. However, in recent years, China has adopted lethal injection as its sole method of execution, though execution by firing squad can still be administered. Key reforms since 2006 Notice Improving Work on Open Trial for Second Instance Case with Death Sentences (December 7, 2005) Provisions on Some Issues Concerning the Court Trial Procedures for the Second Instance of Cases Involving the Death Penalty (for Trial Implementation) (September 21, 2006) Amendment to the Organic Law of the People's Court (October 31, 2006) Provision of the SPC on Several Issues Concerning the Review of Death Penalty Cases (February 27, 2007) Opinion on Strengthening Handling Cases in Strict Accordance with Law and Guaranteeing the Quality of Handling Death Penalty Cases (March 9, 2007) Provisions Concerning Issues in Examination of Evidence in Handling Death Penalty Cases (June 13, 2010) Regulation on Issues Concerning Exclusion of Illegal Evidence in Handling Criminal Cases (June 13, 2010) Key changes since reforms in 2006 Exercise of the death penalty in general - After changes, the reform officially stated the principle of killing fewer and cautiously.