New proposal

Taiwan wants to take a middle course on the death penalty

A policeman in front of the Constitutional Court in Taipei

(Bild: AFP/Yan ZHAO)

The death penalty in Taiwan remains conditionally compatible with the constitution of the East Asian island state. This was decided by the Constitutional Court in the capital Taipei on Friday. In future, a kind of middle way is to be taken.

The judges' proposal: although the punishment continues to exist, it must now be strictly limited to certain crimes and circumstances. 37 prisoners, who had exhausted their options to appeal, had previously requested an interpretation of whether the death penalty is constitutional.

The court accepted the petition in January of this year. The judges' current decision related only to the legal provisions applied in the convicts' cases, some of which are now considered unconstitutional.

45 people sentenced to death
The prisoners may be able to hope for a retrial or other exoneration. However, there is a possibility that they may be sentenced to death again in the retrial.

There are currently 45 people sentenced to death in prison in Taiwan, eight of whom are still in the appeals process. Taiwan's Constitutional Court had already dealt with the issue in 1985, 1990 and 1999 and always found the death penalty to be constitutional. Executions there are carried out by firing squad.

A nation in conflict
However, the death penalty in the republic is controversial. Some legal experts and human rights groups are in favor of ending it, pointing to global developments and Taiwan's commitment to the International Convention on Human Rights. Surveys, however, indicate that a majority in Taiwan is in favor of the death penalty.

Since the Democratic Progressive Party came to power eight years ago under President Tsai Ing-wen, the number of executions has fallen significantly. Two people have been executed since then. In the previous eight years, Taiwan under President Ma Ying-jeou of the National Chinese Kuomintang carried out 33 death sentences.