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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Inmate's Sudden Execution Reignites Death Penalty Controversy in Taiwan

<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/AVvXsEhIi7liABMsgfrgHWVMULePj-NSBfvjREETng98RwZGYET0h0YgZ1zOt3IrQM0KshM3oK5CuGzFMHKFZeF7w_YC2Od1JD0YD9pHBZYEB5AW_brCxLNONnE1BzAhu5jNv8rEa9BRTaH4ph4/s1600/Cheng+Chieh+Taiwan+Subway+killer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Cheng Chieh" border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIi7liABMsgfrgHWVMULePj-NSBfvjREETng98RwZGYET0h0YgZ1zOt3IrQM0KshM3oK5CuGzFMHKFZeF7w_YC2Od1JD0YD9pHBZYEB5AW_brCxLNONnE1BzAhu5jNv8rEa9BRTaH4ph4/s400/Cheng+Chieh+Taiwan+Subway+killer.jpg" title="Cheng Chieh" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheng Chieh</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Taiwan’s former justice minister has stirred up controversy over the death penalty in Taiwan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“There was nothing extraordinary about his life, because every person’s life is invaluable, and every soul has the same high significance.” Such were the words of Taiwan’s former Justice Minister Luo Ying-shay, after she approved the execution of death row inmate Cheng Chieh last month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Uproar ensued.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Twenty-three at the time of his death, Cheng had gone on a stabbing spree on Taipei’s metro two years ago, taking four lives and injuring over 20. He was dubbed the “Monster of the Metro” by local media outlets including Apple Daily and the United Daily News, and showed little to no remorse in both interrogation and the trials that followed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In late-April, he received a death sentence. <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/2016/05/taiwan-executes-subway-killer.html" target="_blank">Nineteen days later, he was dead</a>. It was what Cheng had longed for: during interrogation, he informed prosecutors that he had set out to kill people so he would be given death penalty in return. “I wanted to commit suicide, but I’m afraid it would hurt too much.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/2016/05/taiwan-supreme-prosecutors-office.html" target="_blank">crudeness of the excuse</a> was not lost on the Taiwanese people, many of whom called for his death online.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A week before the new government stepped into office, the Ministry of Justice held a press conference, shortly after Luo decided to carry out Cheng’s death sentence at night.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">His lawyer and family had not been notified, and Luo’s reasoning was that, “If we announced the execution beforehand, none of the death penalties would be carried out. Relevant people would only continue to seek retrials and extraordinary appeal.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Luo’s reasoning was shocking: it sounded like the Justice Minister had created her own loophole in the judiciary system to defy the legal procedure every Taiwanese citizen is granted by law.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Luo ordered Cheng’s immediate death because, even behind bars, he posed as an “immense threat to the society’s stability and security,” and his death would serve as a reminder for those tempted to kill for the same reasons.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite Cheng’s unacceptable rationale for his actions and long history of demonstrating a love for violence (as shown on his blog and in conversations with classmates), many people in Taiwan also saw Luo’s sudden order to execute Cheng as an atrocity. Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty executive director Lin Hsin-yi spoke to the media shortly after Cheng’s death, saying that, “We can not allow the government to decide if the need for procedural justice is essential under different circumstances.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Inexcusable Abandonment of Due Process?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As brutal as the crime had been and as important as it was to remind the community that such actions would not be overlooked, Cheng deserves to be walked through the complete judiciary procedure with his legal team and his family deserves to be notified before his death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">How long should the government wait, from the moment when a death sentence is finalized until the actual execution? In Cheng’s case, the government has chosen the simplest and most “convenient” manner by which to end one of the most complex social issues existing, said Taiwanese lawmaker Tuan Yi-kang.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tuan supports the abolition of Taiwan’s death penalty. Those who were against abolition were quick to blame the anti-death camp for several homicide cases that occurred in the two years following Cheng’s crime, saying that potential murderers are on the prowl because they knew the government does not take the death penalty seriously.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It may, of course, take many generations to accept the relatively newer concept of a judiciary system that forgoes the death penalty. It may take possibly even longer for this concept to be adopted and implemented; but, in the meantime, the government should look into Cheng’s case, hopefully turning this negative incident into a positive lesson for Taiwanese society.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Killing people on the metro is an act of violence and so are the gunshots that rang through the night Cheng died. The state is granted the right to carry out this specific type of violence because it is codified in the law – law that is solidified by social recognition. Nevertheless, this does not change the nature of the violence enacted by the state.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Luo has denied vehemently that Cheng’s life became a pawn in Taiwan’s most significant power exchange in history, but in the eyes of many, she has proven to the people that top government officials have no respect for the law or for a human life.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://thediplomat.com/2016/06/inmates-sudden-execution-reignites-death-penalty-controversy-in-taiwan/" target="_blank">The Diplomat</a>, Katherine Wei, June 13, 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/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Asia Taiwan Inmate's Sudden Execution Reignites Death Penalty Controversy in Taiwan

Cheng Chieh Taiwan’s former justice minister has stirred up controversy over the death penalty in Taiwan. “There was nothing extraordinary a...

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