[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 17



TAIWAN:

Judiciary disagrees on death penalty


The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and the Judicial Yuan yesterday failed to
reach a consensus on an amendment proposing that the death sentence be
meted out only when all 5 judges agree on the final verdict.

The Judicial Yuan said that as the government agency in charge of
administering the death penalty, the ministry should decide on the future
of the death penalty. The ministry cannot uphold the death sentence and
then place restrictions on judges right to sentence a defendant to death,
it said.

The law stipulates that a death sentence can be handed down with a
majority verdict.

Passage of the amendment would make death sentences more difficult to
secure and thereby reduce the number of state executions.

The ministry also proposed that the Judicial Yuan amend the law so that
Supreme Court justices would have to meet and debate with attorneys
representing the defendant when they review a death sentence handed down
by the Taiwan High Court.

At present the Supreme Court only reviews the legal documents but does not
debate the matter.

In addition, the ministry proposed that a defendant on death row be
granted a stay of execution should he or she file a petition for retrial,
extraordinary appeal or request an interpretation by the grand justices.

The Judicial Yuan said it would not support either of the 3 amendments.

The Democratic Progressive Party government promised in 2000 to abolish
the death penalty, but the ministry said it had not been able to do so
because a majority of Taiwanese still believe that capital punishment is
the most effective means of deterring serious crime.

Given this, the ministry has tried to minimize the number of executions by
filing extraordinary appeals to the Supreme Court to keep prisoners
sentenced to death alive or to delay their executions.

Ministry figures show that the number of executions has been decreasing
for years. 32 prisoners were executed in 1998, a number that shrank to 10
in 2001 and to 3 each in 2004, 2005 and in 2006. No executions were
carried out last year.

There are 29 individuals currently on death row.

(source: Taipei Times)