New survey reveals old patterns

Results of a recent survey presented at an international forum yesterday showed that nearly 80 percent of the public support the death penalty.

The figures are in keeping with previous public opinion data regarding capital punishment.

At the International Conference on Abolition of the Death Penalty, which started yesterday and goes thorough tomorrow at Fu Jen University, it was revealed that 79.7 percent of respondents support the death penalty and 11.2 percent oppose it.

Moreover, 50.1 percent said they think the death penalty could be abolished if life imprisonment were offered as an alternative.

The figure comes as no surprise as 70 percent to 80 percent of respondents have regularly told pollsters that they support the death penalty in previous opinion polls in Taiwan.

However, members of the nation's abolitionist movement are quick to point out that low confidence in social order remains a major reason for capital punishment's wide support, the survey revealed.

According to the survey, which was carried out via telephone between May 2 and May 15 by the statistics department of Fu Jen University, 67.7 percent of the respondents think that abolishing the death penalty would have a negative effect on Taiwan's social order.

And 68.4 percent of respondents think the harsher the law, the easier it is to reform society.

Nearly 80 percent of respondents are not satisfied with the current social order in Taiwan.

Shia Ben-chang (謝邦昌), professor of the statistics department at Fu Jen University, theorized that the wide support for the death penalty has much to do with the respondents' perception of social order and thus -- perhaps -- the support would decline if social order improved.

Though not backed up by scientific evidence, retribution and deterrence remain major arguments held by those who support the death penalty.

Among the reasons for supporting the death penalty, the new survey has found 41.1 percent of respondents said they support the death penalty because serious crime merits severe punishment. Another 26.1 percent said they believed the death penalty can deter other criminals.

The conference began yesterday with a session exploring the impact of Chinese culture on public opinion about capital punishment and an examination of public attitudes toward the issue.

Also covered in yesterday's session was the international trend toward abolishing capital punishment.

Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) recently announced his plans for abolishing the death penalty in Taiwan within three years, but he stressed the government would not carry out the plan against public opinion.

While the wide public support for the death penalty revealed in the survey suggests the justice minister's goal might be a distant reality, some abolitionists from the international community looked at it differently.

William Shabas, a human rights law professor at National University of Ireland and the author of the Abolition of the Death Penalty in International Law, suggested most countries which have abolished the death penalty have done so against public support.

He suggested that countries retaining the death penalty in accordance with public support could first include the right to life in their respective constitutions and then take every death penalty case to the constitutional courts for interpretation.