KMT presidential candidate Hou You-yi has begun to lean into attacks on DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te over the death penalty. Hou has called on Lai to clarify what he claims to be an unclear stance on the death penalty...
The Central Election Commission stated in April that a referendum proposal by the Taiwan Lily Justice Association (TLJA) was unlikely to qualify to be put to the vote this year, as part of the national referendum process. The referendum proposal would be to expedite the time that executions take place, in requiring that executions take place within six months of sentencing...
Human rights groups called on President Tsai Ing-wen to pardon Chiou Ho-shun, Taiwan’s longest-serving death row inmate, earlier this month. As part of this call, groups including the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty and Amnesty International presented a petition with 42,700 signatures to the Presidential Office, on the occasion of Chiou’s 63rd birthday...
Recent public reactions following the stabbing death of two police officers by an escaped jail inmate, surnamed Lin, illustrate the long path to be walked for abolishing capital punishment in Taiwan. The murders took place in late August...
Human rights groups marched to the Presidential Office last Wednesday, calling for death row inmate Chiou Ho-shun to be pardoned by President Tsai Ing-wen. An exhibition about the case is also currently running in Taichung at the Judicial Reform Foundation’s Taichung office, which Tsai has been invited to visit....
Human rights groups and civil society groups opposed to the death penalty have sought to call attention to the Chiou Ho-shun case in past weeks. Chiou has served a total of 31 years behind bars for two murder cases that took place in 1987 and 1988, having been on death row since 1989...
The death sentence for 41-year-old Hsieh Chih-hung was overturned last week by the Tainan High Court, with opponents of capital punishment hailing the decision as one that corrected a longstanding miscarriage of justice in Taiwan...
Issues of mental health in Taiwan are in the spotlight after a Chiayi District Court ruled the killer of a railway officer to be “Not Guilty” on the basis that the man suffers from schizophrenia...
Taiwanese human rights groups have been critical of the Tsai administration after it executed Weng Jen-hsien, 53, by firing squad on April 1st. This would be the second execution that has taken place under the Tsai administration to date. 39 individuals are currently on death row in Taiwan...
Premier Su Tseng-chang approving the death penalty for cases of drunk driving represents all too typical behavior from Taiwanese politicians regarding attempts to deter crime through legal punishment. Namely, it is often thought by many members of the public in Taiwan that increasing penalties-is the best means of preventing violent crime. This is inclusive of drunk driving...