The random killing spree on a Taipei MRT train on Wednesday has reignited debate about the death penalty, with a legislator recommending that the perpetrator be put to death.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) suggested revising the law to penalize random killing on public transportation with mandatory death penalty.
“Those who randomly kill should die,” Tsai said on Facebook, in response to the incident in which four people were killed and 23 injured.
“I therefore propose amending Article 271-1 of the Criminal Code to penalize random killers with the death penalty or life in prison, while those who randomly kill on public transportation should be subject to mandatory capital punishment.”
Tsai also proposed amending the Mass Rapid Transit Act (大眾捷運法) to penalize those who carry guns or knives on MRT trains with up to five years in prison, and those who “interrupt” the operations of the MRT system with up to three years in prison.
Taiwan Association for Human Rights chairman Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said that Tsai’s proposal does not make sense and may be unconstitutional.
“Article 271 of the Criminal Code authorizes the judge to decide whether to give a murderer the death penalty, life in prison, or 10 years or more in prison depending on the motivation or number of victims,” said Chiu, a lawyer. “If it is stipulated in the law that random killing on public transportation systems can only be penalized by death, it would be taking away the judge’s right to make an independent judgement based on the different circumstances in each case.”
Chiu added that, in principle, laws should be applied to all cases, not to one particular case.
“[Tsai’s] proposal to amend the law for a particular case may be unconstitutional,” Chiu said.
The killings have also reignited debate over whether capital punishment should be abolished.
Speaking to reporters, the son of Pan Pi-chu (潘碧珠), one of the victims in Wednesday’s attack, challenged members of the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) whether they would still support abolishing the death penalty if their families were murdered as his mother was.
His remarks soon triggered a heated debate on the Internet, with supporters of the death penalty saying that such random murderers should be penalized by death, while opponents argued that capital punishment has not helped to lower the crime rate — especially as the MRT incident happened not long after the execution of five death row inmates.
In a press statement, the TAEDP said that, while it also believes that criminal offenders should be responsible for their actions, “the killings on the Taipei MRT just proves that the death penalty does not stop crime.”
“In fact, from 2006 to 2009, when there was a de facto suspension of the death penalty in Taiwan, the crime rate steadily dropped, which shows that the suspension of executions would not make security worse,” the statement said.
“If media reports that the suspect killed because he wanted to be executed are true, the death penalty is ironically one of the reasons that triggered the crime,” it said.
“Killing does not stop killing; hate only incites more hate; the government should remember this lesson and stop dodging its responsibility [to lower the crime rate] by resorting to executions,” the statement said.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan