Death penalty in Taiwan

★


capital punishment, death penalty in Taiwan ★ The cruel penalty remains broadly popular ★ world No. 1 in 2020~25, 2017~19, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2010~12 ★ Top since 1998 ★	fights for rights

★
home TW OP tour hospitals restaurants night-markets love personality women speech corruption rotten Taiwan mental-control privacy fraud judiciary police net-army univ foreign-labor death penalty prosecutors pres. Tsai president Lai happiness housing democracy diplomacy prostitutes massage soft power human-rights intl-Human-rights judicial-persecution oppression trans-justice microwave-attacks larceny military drugs food buffet wealth culture US-cartoons US-designs Japan-comics Chn-creativity EXPO cartoons-WWII humor political-cartoons CovID fb music movies supermarket
★

Taiwan

Taiwanese don't trust judges

why trust death penalty judgments ?

◆ Human Rights Watch, 2025-2-3: The execution on Jan. 16 marks a troubling step backward for the protection of human rights in Taiwan, and represents a shift away from the broader trend in Asia towards the abolition of or moratorium on the death penalty, which undermines Taiwan’s reputation as a progressive democracy committed to human rights. hrw.org/news/2025/02/03/taiwan-executes-first-prisoner-five-years

◆ Reuters, US News, 2025-1-16: Taiwan carries out first execution in 5 years, upsetting EU, human rights groups; though in recent years violent crime is relatively low. In September, Taiwan's constitutional court ruled that the death penalty is constitutional but only for the most serious crimes with the most rigorous legal scrutiny; Taiwan's largest opposition party the Kuomintang voiced its support for capital punishment.
Amnesty International.: "This execution is a shocking and brutal development" .
The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty: "executions would "only make society more bloodthirsty".

◆ Amnesty International (國際特赦組織), 2025-1-16: “This execution is a shocking and cruel development. Taiwan’s Minister of Justice, with a strike of his pen, has undone several years of hard-fought progress towards the abolition of the death penalty. This is a huge setback for human rights in Taiwan." ;“It is horrifying that the execution was carried out at a few hours’ notice, without the possibility of any last family visits".

Safeguard No.8 of the UN Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, adopted by two UN bodies in 1984 without a vote, states that “[c]apital punishment shall not be carried out pending any appeal or other recourse procedure or other proceeding relating to pardon or commutation of the sentence”.

The last execution in Taiwan was carried out on 1 April 2020. As of 31 December 2023, 37 out of the 45 people held on death row had their death sentences finalized and were at risk of execution. As of today, 113 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes and 144 are abolitionist in law or practice.

amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/01/taiwan-first-execution-since-2020-a-shameful-setback/

Amnesty International , 2025-1-16 amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/01/taiwan-first-execution-since-2020-a-shameful-setback/

◆ Bloomberg, 2024-9-20:The court affirmed the constitutionality of capital punishment but restricted its use to only the most serious crimes, while emphasizing the need for better safeguards. The ruling reflects a compromise between international pressure for abolition and domestic support for harsh punishment to deter offenders.。More than 70% of countries around the world have abolished capital punishment in law or practice。In 2009, lawmakers ratified the UN’s two covenants on human rights, one of which calls for the abolition of the death penalty. A May poll found nearly 85% of respondents favor keeping capital punishment. The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) strongly supports the penalty, but the DPP has been relatively in favor of abolishing capital punishment yahoo.com/news/top-taiwan-court-rule-legal-230000763.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

◆ Amnesty International, 2024-9-20: The Taiwanese authorities must now amend the relevant provisions within the two-year timeframe given to ensure fundamental safeguards are put in place. Taiwan did not exclude those with mental and intellectual disabilities from the use of the death penalty completely. We urge the government of Taiwan to immediately establish an official moratorium on executions as a first critical step. The death penalty is inherently cruel and does not make us safer. The authorities of Taiwan must act to swiftly commute all death sentences, bring about reforms to the criminal justice system that prioritize the protection of human rights and abolish the death penalty once and for all. The death penalty violates the human right to life and the right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as reflected in the development of international human rights law and standards. amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/09/taiwan-constitutional-court-recognizes-fundamental-flaws-in-death-penalty-but-fails-to-abolish-it/

◆ Human Rights Watch, 2024-9-23: Taiwan's top court ruled that the death penalty was constitutional with greater protections, permits the continued use of the inherently cruel punishment. The court's new judgment aimed to strengthen due process rights, including by requiring unanimous sentencing by a panel of judges. The court missed a major opportunity to abolish this inherently cruel practice, “Taiwan's government should take the next step and immediately place a moratorium on death penalty use.”...a new requirement that the suspect or the accused must be represented by a lawyer during the investigation and police inquiry stages for the “most serious” crimes. Since 2002, all executions carried out have been for the crime of murder, most recently in 2020.“Taiwan could cement its reputation as a regional leader on human rights issues by abolishing the death penalty,” Henderson said. “The risks of a wrongful, irreversible punishment should be off the table entirely.” hrw.org/news/2024/09/23/taiwan-top-court-upholds-death-penalty-protections

◆ Reuters, 2024-9-20: The death penalty remains broadly popular according to opinion polls, though in recent years it has only rarely been carried out and violent crime is relatively low.

◆ EFE, 2024-9-20: During the last eight years of government of the Democratic Progressive Party, only two people were executed in Taiwan, a figure that contrasts with the more than 250 deaths recorded in the 1990s. Taiwanese people, despite holding progressive views on a wide variety of social issues, advocates the maintenance of the death penalty. Nearly 86 percent of the island’s citizens are against abolishing the death penalty, according to a study carried out by the National Chung Cheng University of Crime Research Center in 2023.

efe.com/en/latest-news/2024-09-20/taiwans-top-court-upholds-constitutionality-of-capital-punishment-but-limits-its-use/

◆ United Daily (Taiwan, 聯合報), 2024-9-22: The court shows kitsch style, not only wants to achieve the goal of abolishing death penalty, but also wants to gain political benefit/dividents (政治紅利); their judgment concerning capital punishment is like fraud tactics.udn.com/news/story/7338/8242825?from=udn_ch2_menu_v2_main_cate

◆ DW (Germany), 2024-4-24: Taiwan's long-awaited debate on the death penalty is considered a historic step that human rights groups believe will decide the future of capital punishment in Taiwan /

⊙ a majority of Taiwanese oppose the abolition of the death penalty

⊙ tv.Guardian, DW video: Taiwan's claim to be a regional bastion of human rights is undermined by its retention of capital punishment, activists say.
⊙ attorney: " If we can understand the process of a criminal's downfall, why do we focus on killing the fallen angel while overlooking the Satan who led them astray?"

⊙ co-executive director of the Death Penalty Project : "Taiwan has said for many years that they're on a road to abolition," Lehrfreund told DW. "But my question is, is that road too long politically and that not enough progress has been made politically to move away from the death penalty?"
⊙ According to a 2022 report by Amnesty International, close to three-quarters of governments around the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, almost none of which ended the death penalty due to the public demand or support for it, the public "followed the political lead or the judicial lead" and have eventually accepted abolition. Human rights groups believe constitutional interpretation could pave the way for formal abolition of death sentences...

⊙ the issue is often being used as "some kind of political maneuvering."

dw.com/en/taiwans-death-penalty-and-debate-over-constitutional-rights/a-68909105 Yuchen Li

◆ Taipei Times (Taiwan), 2024-4-24:

⊙ Attorney Nigel Lee (李念祖) said it has yet to be proven that the death penalty deters crimes and offers retributive justice to victims. “The death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment. In practice, death sentences could be meted out unreasonably,”“If the law does not allow people to resort to violence to resolve a violent crime, then judges should have no right to do so either.”
⊙ A Ministry of Justice survey showed that Taiwanese could support abolition if there are supporting measures.
⊙ Ministry of Justice: the Constitutional Court has always ruled that the death penalty is constitutional. The death penalty is handed down based on the principle of culpability and shows that people must be responsible for their actions

⊙ National Chung Cheng University, prof: using life imprisonment with the possibility of parole is unfeasible. Situations in Taiwan have shown a high recidivism among those who were sentenced to a number of years in prison, which also shows that such a method cannot deter crime.

taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2024/04/24/2003816864 Shelley Shan

◆ China Times (中時) editorial, 2024-4-6: The current society still has a strong thinking that criminals should be punished. If the Constitutional Court's judgment in the future goes against the overwhelming majority of public opinion, it will inevitably cause a huge impact on society.; The justices have issued Interpretations No. 194, 263, and 476 (死刑是否違憲釋字) all believed that the death penalty in the law is constitutional and does not violate the Constitution's intention to protect people's right to exist. Based on the fact that more than 80% of public opinion supports the death penalty, the Legislative Yuan and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party will not dare to rashly amend the law and abolish death penalty. chinatimes.com/opinion/20240406002002-262101?chdtv

◆ United Daily (聯合報) editorial, 2024-2-29: Many people are opposed to abolishing the death penalty, mainly because of poor public security, declining social ethics, and endless cruel criminal cases. udn.com/news/story/7338/7798534?from=udn_ch2_menu_v2_main_cate

◆ DW (Germany), 2022-10-23: German parliamentary human rights committee delegation (Peter Heidt, Heike Engelhardt, Derya Türk-Nachbaur , Michael Brand , Carsten Brodesser ) arrived at Taiwan and discussed human rights issues including the death penalty with their Taiwanese counterparts. Capital punishment is still a statute on the books in Taiwan. dw.com/en/german-lawmakers-arrive-in-taiwan-amid-tensions-with-china/a-63530806 msn.com/en-us/news/world/german-lawmakers-arrive-in-taiwan-amid-tensions-with-china/ar-AA13hMCZ

◎

pic. :No.1 "台灣死刑"(Taiwan capital punishment) on Yandex of Russia, 2025-2-4, 2025-1-13, 2024-5-13, 2024-4-8, 2023-11-27; No.2 at 2025-2-4, 2024-1-14; No.1 "評論台灣死刑" ("Taiwan death penalty comments") on Bing, 2024-5-3

No.3 Taiwan capital punishment on Yandex, 2025-1-18;

pic. left: No.2 "death penalty in Taiwan" on Yandex, 2024-9-22, 2024-4-8, 2024-1-14, 2023-11-27, 2022-10-9, 2022-9-10, 2022-2-13; No.2 "Taiwanese death penalty" on Yandex, 2024-5-13, 2024-4-8, 2024-1-14, 2023-11-27, 2022-9-10

◆ Yahoo, UDN, China Times (Taiwan), 2024-1-10 youtube.com/watch?v=BpiVdPCdhf8 : Taiwan presidential candidate Hou (侯友宜) opposes abolishing death penalty. According to poll by 《ETtoday新聞雲》, only 7.7% of respondents support abolition of death penalty (capital punishment).

　◆

◆ Taipei Times, etc, 2022-9-13: DETERRENT: About 88 percent of respondents said capital punishment helps prevent serious crimes, while nearly 89 percent were dissatisfied with the pace of executions,

86.9 percent of respondents opposed the abolition of capital punishment in Taiwan, 88.8 percent were dissatisfied that the Tsai administration carried out only two executions over the past six years. The poll also showed that 73.6 percent are dissatisfied with public safety in Taiwan, while 25.5 percent are satisfied. taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2022/09/13/2003785231

◆ justsecurity.org, Focus Taiwan, Taipei Times, etc, 2022-5-13: Invited by Taiwan's government, an international human rights experts panel (Manfred Nowak of Austria, Eibe Riedel, Germany, Heisoo Shin, S Korea, Rosslyn Noonan, New Zealand, Shanthi Dairiam , Malaysia, Peer Lorenzen, Denmark, William Anthony Schabas , Canada, Rukka Sombolinggi, Indonesia, Virginia Bonoan-Dandan, Philippines, Miloon Kothari, India ) conducted a five-day review from May 9-13 in Taipei of the country's implementation of two United Nations' human rights-related covenants, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
international panel experts called on Taiwan to end the “cruel and degrading” practice of capital punishment. The nine-member group said it was "extremely disappointed" at the failure of Taiwan's government to address the issue. "Taiwan is already among a very, very small number of countries in the world that still retain the death penalty, and the arguments that are time and again, repeated by the government, are far from convincing," experts said the "cruel, inhuman and degrading" punishment was in violation of ICCPR's Article 6 and 7. Taiwan's Cabinet spokesperson Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said that ... but there is a lack of public consensus on the matter.

◆ Japan Times, 2022-1-4 : Taiwan's claim to be a regional bastion of human rights is being undermined by its retention of capital punishment. Capital punishment remains popular in Taiwan. Despite its frequent use against dissidents during decades of martial law, most polls show Taiwanese still support the death penalty even as the island has become one of the most progressive democracies in Asia. Taiwan president Tsai has called abolishing capital punishment "a difficult issue to deal with" due to the lack of support from the public that would require "a long process, a long time" to change. brief japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/01/04/asia-pacific/crime-legal-asia-pacific/taiwan-capital-punishment/
　

♣ South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), Jan. 2022: Taiwanese death row inmate's case turns focus on use of capital punishment. Campaigners say Wang Xin-fu, the island's oldest death row prisoner, was wrongly convicted for the murder of a policeman in 1990 scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3162028/taiwanese-death-row-inmates-case-turns-focus-use-capital
♣ Japan Times, 2022-1-4: Activists claim there are "obvious flaws" in the conviction of Wang Xin-fu, Taiwan's oldest death row prisoner, from inconsistent testimony, allegations of police torture against a witness, a lack of motive and no fingerprints.
♣ New York Times, 2022-1-21: Taiwanese prosecutors formally charged a suspect with homicide and arson... she "intended to make her boyfriend embarrassed and regretful by setting the fire, which caused major disasters and claimed innocent lives," and she "showed no regrets after committing the crime"... the prosecutors would seek the death penalty. nytimes.com/2022/01/21/world/asia/taiwan-fire-ghost-building-suspect.html

◆ National ChungCheng University (國立中正大學), 2022-2-14: study found 76.3%Taiwanese poll respondents oppose abolishment of death penalty，18.7% agree, but supporting measures needed。deptcrc.ccu.edu.tw/index.php?option=module&lang=cht&task=pageinfo&id=432&index=1

◆ Amnesty International, June, 2021, amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/English.pdf ; amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-pacific/east-asia/taiwan/report-taiwan/
Death penalty /
Amendments to the Prison Act in January resulted in changes to the Regulations for the Execution of the Death Penalty in July. The amended regulations still allowed death sentences for individuals with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities. Taiwan's authorities made no progress towards abolition during the year and continued to carry out executions.

◆ Amnesty International, 2021-4-21: Egypt, ... India, Oman, Qatar and Taiwan also resumed executions. “The death penalty is an abhorrent punishment and pursuing executions in the middle of a pandemic further highlights its inherent cruelty. (amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/04/death-penalty-2020-despite-covid-19-some-countries-ruthlessly-pursued-death-sentences-and-executions/)

◆ TIME, 2021-4-21 : Taiwan also went against the global trend of abandonment of capital punishment and resumed executions. At a global level, all countries that have not yet repealed this punishment should end these state-sanctioned killings for good. news.yahoo.com/death-penalty-declines-global-recorded-020104652.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
　

◆ Taiwan News, 2021-4-22 : The" Death Sentences and Executions 2020" report by Amnesty International lists Taiwan as one of the 18 nations that carried out the death penalty in 2020. Taiwan's Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said on April 21, 2021 that Taiwan remains on track to abolish capital punishment despite an execution and five death sentences last year.

taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4184012
　

pic.: No.1 "Taiwan death penalty" on Bing , 2022-10-9, 2022-3-25, 2021-6-24, 2021-5-16, 2021-4-15; No.2 "Taiwan death penalty" on Bing , 2022-2-21

pic. : No.1 "death penalty in Taiwan" on Microsoft Bing , 2022-10-9, 9-5-2020, 4-3-2020
　

◆ UDN, 2021-2-26: According to a survey by National Chung Cheng University, 41.5% poll respondents oppose abolishment of the death penalty, 31.7% disagree but would like to reconsider the issue of abolishment of the death penalty if supporting measures available. 3.1% said they would like to see the death penalty abolished nationwide. The research found majority of Taiwanese still support heavy punishment for felonies.

udn.com/news/story/7321/5279400

◆ Next TV news, Apple Daily news, 2021-5-10: Taiwan law maker and KMT general coordinator in Legislative Yuan slammed Health Minister 陳時中 : "you should be punished by death penalty for ignoring such a big loophole leading to CovID-19 cluster infection" (「根本應該被槍斃」) tw.appledaily.com/politics/20210510/ZDNNJRMKIREGRBME66N5EXJISU/ ; later slammed again - if things go worse, just shoot him 10 times !

◆ AFP, 2020-4-3 : International and local rights groups urged Taiwan to immediately announce a moratorium on executions and set a timeline for complete abolition. "The government said its policy is to gradually abolish the death penalty but it took opposite action to carry out its second execution ...This is certainly a regression in human rights.
◆ Jurist 4-3-2020: The Federation for Human Rights, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) and Covenants Watch said they cast “serious doubts on Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s commitment to human rights.”

★ 80% Taiwanese people don't believe Taiwan justice, why do Taiwanese support judicial system's death-penalty judgments ? Do they have deep knowledge about the case ? or just want some deaths to keep themselves safer ?
★ yUSA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 2021-3-30: Some political commentators and academics, however, publicly questioned the impartiality of judges and prosecutors involved in high profile, politically sensitive cases. click to see Taiwan judiciary.

◆ National CCU (國立中正大學犯罪研究中心) survey 2020-2-21: 77.4% Taiwanese people disagree abolishing death penalty ― 46.3% of them totally disagree abolishing death penalty, 31.1% of them basically disagree, but would reconsider the issue if complementary measures or supplementary measures provided. The percentage of previous year is 79.6%. 14.2% of the public basically agree abolishing death penalty if complementary measures measures provided. only 2.7% totally agree abolishing death penalty，1.2% decreased compared to that of previous year.

www005006.ccu.edu.tw/upload_file/bulletin/15822582689848.pdf

◎

pic. right: No.1 "Taiwan's death penalty" on Baidu of China, 2021-5-9

pic. : International Federation For Human Rights Motion condemns the use of death penalty in Taiwan, 10-25-2019
(Taiwan encroaches the human rights and violates CICCPR - The International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights)

https://www.fidh.org/en/issues/death-penalty/motion-condemning-the-use-of-the-death-penalty-in-taiwan-particularly

★★

80% Taiwanese people don't believe Taiwan justice, why do Taiwanese support their death-penalty judgments ?
　

The European Union, Bruxelles, 31/08/2018: The execution in Taiwan ends the moratorium on the application of the death penalty that had de facto been in place since May 2016. The European Union is unequivocally opposed to the use of capital punishment. It is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity. the European Union looks to the Taiwanese authorities to immediately reintroduce a moratorium on the death penalty, as recommended by international experts in March 2013, as a first step to its total abolition. (brief)

◆ Death penalty is a hot controversial issue, but none of Presidential candidates talks about it, even in their official policy speech / Apple Daily, 12-25-2019
　

pic. left: Right before Presidential election, Taiwan P.M. initiates a topic of death penalty issue / Apple Daily, 10-26-2019
ps: Apple Daily, editorial 7-17-2018 : The use of death penalty should not be served as political tools in democratic country ......
The United Daily News, Taiwan, 6-7-2015: Justice should not be a tool for politics, It's not civilized that carrying out the executions reeks of
political calculations by a government attempting to gain points by quelling public anger.

pic. middle: 100+ countries in FIDH condemns Taiwan seriously infringes the human rights of prisoners and violates <CICCPR -
The International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights> / UDN, 10-26-2019

pic. right: Taiwan keeps taking double-faced tactics - declaring abolishing the death penalty while facing international pressures, however,
using capital punishments to fool voters while facing elections / UDN, 10-26-2019

Taiwan News 11-5-2019: Taiwan PM Su says criminals who have committed serious crimes deserve the death penalty.

Tsai said the Ministry of Justice takes great caution handling the capital punishment cases. He added that the speed of the execution differs
from case to case and there is not a fixed time schedule for death penalty.

<AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL >, UK, 8-31-2018: deeply disappointing that Taiwan resumed the implementation of a cruel punishment, an act that casts a shadow over Tsai’s presidency, after President Tsai Ing-wen had stated clearly that her government aims to abolish the death penalty. The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights and can never deliver justice or accountability. (brief)

◎

British Labour Party, MP (member of parliament) Keir Starmer, etc in Taiwan's Apple Daily, 10-1-2018 : Taiwan's international status and reputation are in critical condition or grave danger for that Taiwan resumed the implementation of death punishment recently, Taiwan retreats a big step, don't let media opinions influence this issue. ( translation - 英國工黨國會議員施凱爾等: 死刑處決讓台灣國際聲望與地位全都岌岌可危, 台灣已往後倒退一大步, 勿讓輿論主導死刑存廢 - brief) This was also reported by the United Daily 10-5-2018.

◎