The grisly murder of a four-year-old girl on Monday shocked the nation. Many, after a period of disbelief, were overwhelmed by unbridled fury, calling for a death sentence for the killer, while politicians and entertainers alike were quick to hitch onto the wagon of heated public opinion, proposing all kinds of amendments to the Criminal Code and the Mental Health Act (精神衛生法). However, most uncanny has been the unanimous denouncing of people calling for the abolition of the death penalty in Taiwan.
It is understandable, to a certain extent, that people with a naive sense of justice want revenge and a “speedy trial and fast sentencing [of death].” Online, particularly on Facebook, the most used social network in the nation, there is a plethora of images made by netizens calling for the execution of the murderer and all who abuse and kill children and remarks on popular Facebook pages and by celebrities calling death penalty abolitionists names and showering them with curses.
It has almost become a mysterious ritual in Taiwan for people advocating the abolition of the death penalty to receive threats and insults after gruesome killings. The media certainly did not let slip the chance to cash in on the public furor to boost viewership and online click-through ratings with sensational news headlines and content, reigniting and feeding on the anger and asking the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty to comment.
As the alliance has said on previous occasions, it is a dilemma for them whether to respond when asked to comment.
“Everybody knows how we will answer questions of whether we support the death penalty, but the media continues to repeatedly ask whenever executions or major murders occur,” executive director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) was quoted as saying in a report by online media outlet the Reporter.
When victims’ families do not act in a way that serves the stereotypes that the public expect — such as demanding the death penalty for perpetrators — the media spin the comments into eye-catching headlines or simply turn to “better” candidates who support capital punishment.
The mother of the girl showed incredible courage, reason and love, saying on the day of her daughter’s murder that random killings are “not a problem solved by simple legislation or how we deal with [the murderer]” and called on the nation to “make [irrational killers] disappear from society through education and the efforts of families.”
Some media outlets were foolish enough to “abbreviate” her remarks into headlines such as: “Mother said she wants killers to disappear.”
Wang Wei-chun (王薇君), a relative of a victim of violent crime turned child-protection activist, who has been a regular source of comments on the death penalty for the media, has recently started to extend a friendly hand to abolitionists in discussions over victims’ rights and stopped providing the blood-thirsty media with simple comments, saying that, although she still supports capital punishment, “rational discussion should take place on ways to stop further tragedies.”
However, local media can still easily turn to other distraught families for “comments” whenever killings occur (which they did in this case), a practice that so far has not been called into question by the public.
If the media can be excused by saying they are only providing what the public loves to consume, then some politicians and lawmakers have tainted their roles with proposals for ad hoc laws and opposing the abolition of the death penalty when capital punishment remains on the books in Taiwan.
The government’s promises to revise the Mental Health Act and reintroduce lax conditions for compulsory hospitalization are equally disturbing, as the law was amended less than 10 years ago to avoid forced hospitalization being inappropriately used, which it had been.
The girl’s murder has allowed the nation to witness a mother’s greatness, but it has also revealed once again how an angry mob responds to terror with irrationality; sadly, with the endorsement of the leaders of public opinion.
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