The death penalty conforms with the Constitution, but should only be applied in “exceptional” cases, the Constitutional Court said yesterday.
The judgement was issued in response to a petition by prisoners on death row who said that capital punishment was unconstitutional.
“The death penalty is a capital punishment and its scope of application should still be limited to special and exceptional circumstances,” Chief Justice Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) said during a lengthy readout of the court’s decision.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
While the right to life is protected by the Constitution, “such protection is not absolute,” the court said in a statement.
“The court emphasized that because the death penalty is the most severe punishment and irreversible in nature, its application and procedural safeguards — from investigation to execution — should be reviewed under strict scrutiny,” it said in reference to the crime of murder.
However, “the judgement did not address the constitutionality of the death penalty in general or when imposed for other offenses,” such as treason or drug-related offenses, it said.
Imposing the death sentence is “prohibited” for “defendants with mental conditions, even if their mental conditions did not influence their offense in the cases in question,” the statement said.
Additionally, people on death row “should not be executed if they have a mental condition to an extent that impedes their competency for execution,” it said.
Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers yesterday affirmed the legality of capital punishment in the Criminal Code, adding that they would respect the court’s decision.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers criticized the ruling, saying “it effectively abolished capital punishment in Taiwan.”
The court’s decision runs contrary to the expectations of the majority of Taiwanese, they said.
Human rights advocates and groups opposed to capital punishment expressed disappointment with the Constitutional Court’s judgement, saying that government agencies had not pushed for a genuine decision on the issue.
“We shall keep up the fight. We hope that some day Taiwan will no longer have the death penalty,” they said in a statement.
“The Constitutional Court must be resolute in defending human rights by declaring the death penalty to be unconstitutional,” they said. “Then we can lead Taiwanese society forward to rise above hatred and using state violence as a deterrent.”
“It is time to break the cycle of taking lives and hatred to allow society to start the healing process,” the groups said. “It is unfortunate that the court did not do so.”
Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) said that the government has not taken a firm stance on capital punishment because of divided public opinion on the issue.
However, DPP members are mainly in favor of abolishment, but they did not make an unequivocal statement to clarify their stance, Lin said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS