Two Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-affiliated groups yesterday urged the Constitutional Court to uphold the constitutionality of the death penalty, with justices expected to issue a ruling tomorrow.
More than 80 percent of Taiwanese who participated in the organizations’ polls and group discussions said they opposed the abolition of capital punishment, the Chinese Association for Human Rights and Taiwan Deliberative Democracy Association told a news conference in Taipei.
Taiwan Deliberative Democracy Association Chu Yun-peng (朱雲鵬), who was a minister without portfolio under former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), said that 81.6 percent of respondents in its survey supported the death penalty, while 17 percent opposed it.
Photo: Wang Kuan-jen, Taipei Times
When respondents joined group discussions that exposed them to legal information prepared by the groups, support for the death penalty dropped slightly to 80.2 percent and opposition decreased to 9.2 percent, while the undecided increased to 10.6 percent, Chu said.
Following group discussions, people who believed that only murderers should be put to death fell from 75.9 percent to 59 percent, while supporters of life in prison without parole dropped from 43.3 percent to 34.1 percent, he said.
“This shows that the public ... are more judicious when it comes to the death penalty issue after learning that a life sentence does not necessarily mean life in prison, and that there are constitutional and practical concerns about incarceration without parole,” he said.
In addition, 80.9 percent of respondents who later participated in discussion groups said they agreed with the statement that keeping the death penalty does not go against international trends, he said.
Chu said that 16.3 percent of discussion participants agreed that Constitutional Court justices should decide the future of capital punishment, marking a slight increase compared with 14.9 percent who disagreed.
Meanwhile, 81.6 percent of respondents agreed that the legality of the death penalty should be decided by a referendum or the Legislative Yuan, while 72.6 percent of the respondents who later participated in discussions agreed with that statement, a slight decline, he said.
The numbers suggest that a majority of the public is against giving the Constitutional Court the mandate to decide on the death penalty, he said.
Chinese Association for Human Rights chairman Kao Su-po (高思博), a former KMT legislator, said that many Constitutional Court justices ruling on the matter are nearing the end of their terms.
They should focus on preserving the court’s credibility instead of using this decision as an opportunity to assert their personal morals or values, Kao said.
The survey and discussions show that people overwhelmingly support capital punishment and that its implementation is flawed and should be rectified, he said, adding that legislators should work on perfecting the justice system.
In 2009, the Legislative Yuan ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in a bipartisan vote, which then-president Ma signed into law.
The covenant stipulates that there is an “inherent right to life.”
Article 6 of the covenant concludes that “nothing in this article shall be invoked to delay or to prevent the abolition of capital punishment by any State Party to the present Covenant.”
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