On World Day Against the Death Penalty yesterday, anti-capital punishment and education reform activists urged the government to introduce the debate on death penalty in schools so that students could start thinking about controversial issues early.
“When we try to promote abolition of the death penalty, we often run into supporters of capital punishment who refuse to talk to us at all,” Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty executive director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
“They don’t know why we oppose the death penalty and aren’t interested in listening to us. They simply don’t want to talk to us because we represent something they don’t agree with,” the director said.
However, when those who support and oppose the death penalty have a chance to talk — at conferences and forums — about half of those who support the death penalty change their minds and raise constructive ideas on how capital punishment could be abolished without negatively impacting society, she said.
The situation highlights a problem in society — people are often reluctant to listen to what others have to say, especially when it concerns a controversial issue, and that is why discussion of controversial issues should be introduced into the education system, she said.
Nicolas Baudouin, policy officer of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan, who has spoken out against the death penalty and took part in the press conference, agreed.
“Supporting abolition of the death penalty is a decision that everyone must make for themselves. That is why a better understanding of the death penalty is needed,” he said. “This is more true for the younger generation, which needs to be informed since they will have to decide one day as citizens.”
He said that all studies showed that abolition of the death penalty did not lead to increases in crime and that the death penalty was not a more effective measure to stop crime than other punishments.
Rather, capital punishment “represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity,” Baudouin said. “Besides, any miscarriage of justice — which is inevitable in any legal system — is irreversible [in the case of capital punishment], bearing a terrible aftermath for the victims of mistrials.”
Joanna Feng (馮喬蘭), executive director of the Humanistic Education Foundation, said that discussing the death penalty in schools could be a good start for further debates on controversial issues in education, which would better prepare students for the real world.
“Our education system never allows students to talk about controversial issues, which means that students do not know how to face people with different opinions when they leave school,” Feng said.
“I believe that’s the main cause of confrontation — rather than debates and talks — in our society,” Feng said.
The activists, along with teachers, are taking part in a four-day seminar that began yesterday to come up with a teaching manual on the debate over the death penalty for Taiwanese teachers based on a manual published by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty this year.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
A NT$39 receipt for two bottles of tea at a FamilyMart was among the NT$10 million (US $312,969) special prize winners in the January-February uniform invoice lottery. FamilyMart said that two NT$10 million-winning receipts were issued at its stores, as well as two NT$2 million grand prizes and three NT$200,000 first prizes. The two NT$10 million receipts were issued at stores in Pingtung County and Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山). One winner spent just NT$39 on two bottles of tea, while another spent NT$80 on water, tea and coffee, the company said. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven reported three NT$10 million winners — in New Taipei
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
RSS