As the world marked the Day Against the Death Penalty on Friday, the nation saw a move in the opposite direction — a renewed push calling for those convicted of violent crimes to be sent to death row, as supporters of the death penalty expressed dissatisfaction after the High Court’s Tainan branch Monday sentenced a man convicted of killing a 10-year-old boy to life in prison.
Some pro-death penalty groups have launched a campaign condemning the “unqualified” judges for failing to sentence the defendant Tseng Wen-chin (曾文欽) to death, which they said he deserved.
The Taichung District Court on Tuesday imposed a life sentence, rather than the death penalty, on a man found guilty of the murder of a girl who broke up with him, which further fueled outrage.
The debate over the death penalty aroused by Tseng’s case highlighted the issue groups opposing the death penalty worldwide focused on during Friday’s World Day Against the Death Penalty — mental health issues related to capital punishment. The High Court as well as the district court cited that Tseng suffered from psychiatric illnesses as an extenuating circumstance as they handed down the same sentence.
At the core of the argument that people with mental illness or intellectual disabilities should not face the death penalty is that their involvement in crimes is associated with a lack of access to treatment or lack of support in society, alongside other factors, including their capability to control themselves at the time of crime, vulnerability during investigation and trials, and more.
As the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty has said: “People with mental disabilities do not, in general, pose a higher risk of violence than the general population… They are at greater risk of becoming victims of violence than average… There are, however, numerous cases of people who were in need of mental healthcare, but they did not receive who then went on to commit acts of violence.”
In line with international human rights norms, the death penalty is wrong in all cases and under all circumstances. However, the argument that offenders should be exempted from capital punishment if they suffer mental issues is a perfect illustration of why state execution is illegitimate and immoral.
When a person is found guilty of a heinous crime, society as a whole has to do some soul-searching about the circumstances that contributed to the crime and recognize responsibility on its part. Eliminating criminals through execution is not conducive to mitigating the circumstances they have been subject to and preventing occurrences of similar crimes.
Not only the case of Tseng in December 2012, but the random killing spree on Taipei’s Mass Rapid Transit system in May and many other incidents that happened before and after these have prompted strong demands for death sentences for the defendants. In each case, there was little, if any, discussion as to whether the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for such attacks, or about the reasons behind the incidents and what kinds of assistance families of the victims and families of the offenders need.
The rationale often used to justify the use of the death penalty is that it is culturally embedded that retribution should be based on the principle of “a life for a life.”
However, that is nothing but a pretext. In nations that moved away from enforcing the death penalty decades ago, a movement to reinstate the sanction emerges whenever the countries face an increase in the crime rate or heinous crimes. It is not unique to Taiwan.
What is unique in Taiwan is the lack of political will. Without that, abolishing the death penalty will always be a long-term goal that cannot be achieved.
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