Ministry of Justice seeks to ban death penalty
Publication Date：02/02/2010
Taiwan’s government is working to remove the death penalty from the country’s statute books but there is no timetable for achieving this goal, according to Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng Feb. 1.
“Abolishing capital punishment is an MOJ policy,” Wang said, adding that this could only be accomplished after society-wide consensus has been reached.
According to the MOJ, a 27-strong task force comprising scholars, legal experts and representatives of victims has been established to review the statute and a number of associated issues. Based on the group’s recommendations, the ministry will seek to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment, reform prison administration, further protect victims’ rights and strengthen law and order.
“Research shows that abolishing the death penalty does not lead to an increase in crime,” Wang said. “No one has been executed in Taiwan since December 2005 and the national crime rate has not risen.”
Wang said the MOJ goal is in keeping with an international shift away from capital punishment. “Two thirds of U.N. member have abolished the death penalty or not carried out an execution in over 10 years.”
But for Taiwan’s 44 death row inmates, the ministry’s stance offers little comfort given that public opinion seems to be firmly behind leaving the statute in place. The MOJ said that of nine surveys conducted by the government and nongovernmental organizations since 2003, a consistent 70 percent of respondents were against abolishing capital punishment.
“The abolition of the death penalty is a serious human-rights issue, because once taken, a life can never be retrieved,” said Lin Feng-jeng, executive director of the nongovernmental Judicial Reform Foundation.
Lin suggested that an alternative to capital punishment could be longer sentences, with parole granted only with the approval of victims or their families.
The judicial reformer said while the government’s push to abolish capital punishment is commendable, it should not be undertaken without offering greater support to the victims and family of violent crime. “Providing compensation, legal aid and psychological counseling for the affected must also be a priority.” (PCT-JSM).
Source： http://www.taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=93399&CtNode=414
