Taiwan 'moving toward' abolishing death penalty

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTbsJdTf5tcjDZLcrdauhgH4Xfg1dzKThUwq9PUAQL_K0hbpHfdHPgwcA2J9YRcIroTQlVi4IeGVO1g3en1z8v0yMEVSSHHW9bwodPnMrBrty_DshIDMQSY-UjJ8slSXBxFzcjY9MrrvI/s1600/Taiwan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Taiwan" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTbsJdTf5tcjDZLcrdauhgH4Xfg1dzKThUwq9PUAQL_K0hbpHfdHPgwcA2J9YRcIroTQlVi4IeGVO1g3en1z8v0yMEVSSHHW9bwodPnMrBrty_DshIDMQSY-UjJ8slSXBxFzcjY9MrrvI/s400/Taiwan.jpg" title="Taiwan" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Ministry of Justice yesterday responded to EU calls to abolish capital punishment by saying that Taiwan's justice system is moving toward that goal in the long term, adding that a high percentage of Taiwanese still favor the death penalty for certain crimes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Taiwan, China, Japan and the US were among the nations criticized in the Council of the EU's Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World in 2015, which was released on Monday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The report said that 101 countries have abolished the death penalty, as the EU reaffirmed "its opposition to the death penalty and use of all diplomatic tools at its disposal to advance the cause of worldwide abolition."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The EU deplored the continuing use of the death penalty in various parts of the world: Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Belarus, Egypt, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the USA were a particular focus of attention," it added, as the EU urged these nations to abolish capital punishment. Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang yesterday said the ministry's ultimate goal is to abolish capital punishment in Taiwan, "but current public surveys indicate that 82 % of the people are against abolition of the death penalty."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chen said the ministry has undertaken 4 measures toward this long-term objective: ending legal requirements for "mandatory capital punishment" for certain crimes; taking steps for the judiciary to deliberate on "discretionary capital punishment"; handing out the death penalty with extreme prudence; and carrying out the death penalty with extreme prudence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We are currently reviewing and assessing this issue," Chen said. "The ministry will take very careful approaches on handling this issue and carrying out the death penalty, before our nation has formally abolished it," Chen said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other judicial officials said that the ministry is still responsible for policies on the death penalty, and that the nation's laws still retain the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Taipei Times, June 22, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Abolition European Union Mandatory death penalty Opinion poll Taiwan Taiwan 'moving toward' abolishing death penalty

The Ministry of Justice yesterday responded to EU calls to abolish capital punishment by saying that Taiwan's justice system is moving t...

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Clinton’s quiet support of the death penalty for Dylann Roof

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoiPKhqWAmQ6xbK5yKOfE9zgVW4p4tiI9HXRNpnBZG1fqw8ImsIPAgKcHzz9fc3XG8aNb-A0sqAQGAMBx50kJwc24d4cPmsg7A-i-gUNTuhnVkkKgUCajVZQ781T63x-E-KVGgRVsl0vc/s1600/Hillary+Clinton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Hillary Clinton" border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoiPKhqWAmQ6xbK5yKOfE9zgVW4p4tiI9HXRNpnBZG1fqw8ImsIPAgKcHzz9fc3XG8aNb-A0sqAQGAMBx50kJwc24d4cPmsg7A-i-gUNTuhnVkkKgUCajVZQ781T63x-E-KVGgRVsl0vc/s400/Hillary+Clinton.jpg" title="Hillary Clinton" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hillary Clinton</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Shortly before her heavily publicized speech on foreign policy -- a speech that was so certain to monopolize media attention that House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) used it as cover for <a href="http://www.gazettextra.com/20160602/paul_ryan_says_he_will_vote_for_donald_trump" target="_blank">his endorsement of Donald Trump</a> -- Hillary Clinton finally gave the Huffington Post an answer to a question on which the outlet had been pressing her.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last week, the Justice Department announced that it would <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/05/24/justice-dept-will-seek-death-penalty-for-accused-charleston-church-gunman-dylann-roof/" target="_blank">seek the death penalty</a> for Dylann Roof, who is accused of shooting nine people at a church in Charleston, S.C., last June. Bernie Sanders's campaign <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-opposes-death-penalty-for-dylann-roof_us_57458ec7e4b0dacf7ad3719c" target="_blank">quickly told</a> the Huffington Post that he opposes the move because he opposes the death penalty. But Clinton hadn't taken a position one way or another until Thursday afternoon. At that point, right before the big speech, a spokesman <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-supports-death-penalty-for-dylann-roof_us_57507737e4b0c3752dccde7c" target="_blank">told</a> HuffPo that "she respects the Justice Department decision."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In other words, that she supports the use of the death penalty in the case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That's out of step with the most liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Most Americans support the death penalty, even as support for the tactic <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/02/use-of-the-death-penalty-is-way-down-in-recent-years-support-for-it-is-not/" target="_blank">has slipped</a>. In the most recent General Social Survey, conducted in 2014, only "strong Democrats," "liberal" and "extremely liberal" respondents were more likely to oppose the death penalty than support it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Put another way: The people who were least supportive of Clinton in the primary are the ones who likely will most disagree with this move.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's natural to assume that this is perhaps a move back to the center, after being pulled to the left by Sanders for months. That after having essentially secured the Democratic nomination, she's now taking more general-election-electorate-friendly position on the death penalty that wouldn't have served her well in the primary.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But that's not the case. Clinton has long supported the death penalty. In a debate in New Hampshire in February, she <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/04/sanders-clinton-debate-transcript-annotating-what-they-say/" target="_blank">made that point explicitly</a>, saying that, particularly in federal terrorism cases, she thought the use of the punishment was appropriate. "I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment," she said, "but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That debate coincided with the feud between Sanders and Clinton over who was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/02/clintons-quiet-support-of-the-death-penalty-for-dylann-roof-is-a-sign-that-the-primary-isnt-over/wpo.st/bTUd1" target="_blank">more progressive</a>. On a number of issues, including the death penalty, she is clearly more centrist than Sanders, and has been since the campaign began.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So there's a flip side to the question. Why quietly announce approval of the Roof decision when it was bound to be blanketed by other coverage? Because of California.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A Field Poll conducted <a href="http://www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2528.pdf" target="_blank">in January</a> found that 60 percent of Democrats in that state thought that the death penalty should be eliminated -- including three-quarters of "strongly liberal" respondents. Clinton has all but wrapped up the nomination, but would very much like to seal her inevitable delegate victory with a victory in the biggest, bluest state in the union next Tuesday. So although her position (a) isn't out of step with her past pronouncements and (b) wouldn't hurt her in a general election, it won't do her much good over the next five days.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Clinton is eager to move on to the general-election campaign. But her quiet acquiescence Thursday serves as a reminder that she can't do that entirely just yet.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/02/clintons-quiet-support-of-the-death-penalty-for-dylann-roof-is-a-sign-that-the-primary-isnt-over/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>, The Fix, Philip Bump, June 2, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span>

2016 US Presidential election Bernie Sanders Dylann Roof Federal DP Hillary Clinton Opinion poll Terrorism USA Clinton’s quiet support of the death penalty for Dylann Roof

Hillary Clinton Shortly before her heavily publicized speech on foreign policy -- a speech that was so certain to monopolize media attention...

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