Capital punishment in Taiwan

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Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment in the Republic of China (Taiwan) so far. Before 2000 Taiwan had a relatively high execution rate (the data released by Executive Yuan's Ministry of Justice showed that 658 people, including 6 females, were executed in Taiwan between January 1950 and March 2001. ^[1] This number excludes military executions) when some strict laws were still active and the political environment was harsh. However after some controversial cases during the 1990s plus President Chen Shui-bian's attitude towards abolition, the number of executions drops significantly since 2002, with only 3 executions in 2005 and none in 2006 so far.

Contents 1 Crimes Eligible for Death Penalty 1.1 Under military law 1.2 Under common law 1.3 Defunct Laws 2 Execution Process 3 Execution Statistics 4 Controversial Death Sentences 4.1 The Hsichih Trio case 4.2 Lu Jeng's case 5 President Chen Shui-bian's policy towards abolishing death penalty 6 External Links

[edit] Crimes Eligible for Death Penalty

[edit] Under military law

The Criminal Law of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍刑法) of the Republic of China rules the following crimes eligible for death penalty on ROC military personnels:^[2]:

• Treason (Article 14,15)
• Collaborationism (Article 17,18)
• Espionage (Article 19,20)
• Defection (Article 24)
• Malfeasance (Article 26,27)
• Disclosure of intelligence or secrets (Article 31)
• Desertion (Article 41,42)
• Disobeying orders (Article 47,48)
• Mutiny (Article 49,50)
• Hijacking (Article 53)
• Destroying military supplies and equipments (Article 58)
• Stealing and selling ammunition (Article 65)
• Fabricating orders (Article 66)

[edit] Under common law

The Republic of China Criminal Code (zh:中華民國刑法) rules the following offenses eligible for death penalty, although none of them carries mandatory death penalty^[3]:

• Treason (Article 101)
• Espionage (Article 103,104,105,107)
• Hijacking (Article 185-1)
• Murder (Article 271,272)
• Robbery with murder, rape, or arson (Article 332)
• Piracy (Article 333,334)
• Kidnapping (Article 347,348)

Other special laws which rule capital offenses:

• Manufacture, trafficking or selling of heroin, opium, morphine or cocaine (Act for the Control of Drug Abuse, zh:毒品危害防制條例 Article 4)^[4]
• Manufacture, trafficking or selling of firearm weapons (Act for the Control of Weapons, zh:槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例 Article 7)^[5]
• Serious counterfeiting (Act for the Punishment of Counterfeiting, zh:妨害國幣懲治條例 Article 3)^[6]

[edit] Defunct Laws

The following 2 laws ruled certain offenses to carry mandatory death penalty. More than half of the executed 658 people mentioned eariler lost their lives because of these 2 laws:

• Act for the Control and Punishment of Rebellion (zh:懲治叛亂條例, rescinded in May 1991^[7]) which ruled mandatory death penalty on treason, espionage and defection. This law was applicable to both military and common courts and played an important role during the white terror period. Related information about some people executed according to this law was not publicized because they were court-martialled. For example, Bo Yang and Shih Ming-teh were ever sentenced to death by this law, however they were finally given life imprisonment due to worldwide political pressure during trial.

• Act for the Control and Punishment of Banditry (zh:懲治盜匪條例, rescinded in January 2002^[8]) which ruled mandatory death penalty on kidnapping, piracy, or robbery along with murder, rape, or arson.

[edit] Execution Process

A Taiwanese judicial execution requires the final sentence from the Supreme Court of the Republic of China and the death order signed by the Minister of Justice. After the Supreme Court makes a final death sentence, the case will soon be transferred to the Ministry of Justice, waiting for the Minister of Justice to rule a final secret execution date. Generally the Ministry of Justice will allow some time for the condemned person to meet his or her family and folks, arrange religious activities, and even get married before the execution. Should any new evidences which may influence the verdict are discovered during this period, the condemned prisoner can appeal to the Ministry of Justice and the Minister of Justice may return the case back to Supreme Court for retrial. However such cases are very rare. The President of Republic of China can also award clemency, but so far only President Chiang Kai-Shek ever exercised this legal right on an individual prisoner once in 1957^[9]. President Lee Teng-hui also ever ruled out 2 nationwide commutations in 1988^[10] and 1991^[11] in which 2 murderers were commuted from death penalty to life imprisonment.

The death order from the Minister of Justice will be received and performed by High Court's prosecutor office so executions are carried out inside the detention houses of the 5 cities with high court: Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Hualien. Like Japan, Taiwanese death row inmates are kept in detentions houses but not prisons, and are kept under harsher conditions than general prisoners. They are imprisoned 2-4 persons together in a cell, handcuffed and fettered all day long, only allowed to leave the cell half an hour a day for exercise, but are allowed to read censored newspapers and books as well as hold religion activities with permitted religious personnels.

Executions are carried out by shooting at heart from the back, or at head if the prisoner consents to donate organs. The execution time used to be 6AM, but was changed to 9PM since 1995 to reduce officials' workload. Executions are performed secretly: nobody will be informed beforehand, the condemned prisoner inclusive. Before execution a last meal will be served and the prisoner will be asked last words. The condemned prisoner will then be injected with strong anaesthetic to leave him or her completely senseless, and a bullet soon takes the prisoner's life. After execution the prosecutor office in charge will announce the execution publicly and detailedly. Although the Ministry of Justice ever studied other methods since early 1990s, firing squad (formed by local bailiffs or military polices) is the only execution method ever used in Taiwan so far.

Taiwanese military sentences and executions are administered only by the Ministry of National Defense and have nothing to do with the Ministry of Justice. Military sentences and executions are carried out in the military courts and prisons across the island as well as Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. Unlike the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of National Defense does not compile detailed information concerning this issue so the real situation is unclear.

[edit] Execution Statistics

Unlike Singapore, Taiwan's Ministry of Justice annually publishes detailed statistics on this year's executions, including the executed people's name, age, sex, crime, nationality, education, etc. The detailed numbers of executions since 1987 are listed below^[12][13]:

The Number of Executed People in Taiwan between 1987 and 2005

1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
10	22	69	78	59	35	18	17	16	22	38	32	24	17	10	9	7	3	3

The execution number was at its height in late 1980s and early 1990s when the martial law was just lifted and the social order suddenly broke out. The strict Act for the Control and Punishment of Banditry took many prisoners' lives at that time.

Among the executed include a small number of people from the People's Republic of China, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. They were executed in Taiwan for committing kidnapping, murder or drug trafficking^[14][15][16].

[edit] Controversial Death Sentences

There existed accounts in which the organs were picked up while the excuted prisoners were still medically alive.^[17][18] Tortures also exist in the investigation process, and they would seriously compromise the credibility of the made verdicts.^[19]

[edit] The Hsichih Trio case

In March 1991 Hsichih couple Wu Ming-han (吳銘漢) and Yeh Ying-lan (葉盈蘭) were found robbed and brutally murdered inside their apartment. In August 1991 Hsichih police seized their neighbor Wang Wen-hsiao (王文孝), a youngster who was then serving in the ROC Marines Corps, based on a Wang's bloody fingerprint found in the scene. Wang confessed he murdered the couple after they discovered his housebreaking and burglary, but local police doubted how come he alone could have killed 2 adults easily. After torture Wang confessed another 3 1972-born youngsters who lived in the same community, Su Chien-ho (蘇建和), Chuang Lin-hsun (莊林勳) and Liu Bin-lang (劉秉郎) as accomplices. These 4 youngmen further confessed they gang raped Yeh Ying-lan during their action, but the autopsy after murder did not check Yeh's genitals because her body was badly wounded and by the time they were seized, Yeh's body was already buried and corrupted.

Wang Wen-hsiao was court-martialled and quickly executed in January 1992. The other 3 defendants were prosecuted by the Act for the Control and Punishment of Banditry which ruled compulsory death penalty for their crimes. During trial the 3 defendants repeatedly claimed they were forced to make fake confessions under torture and they were not guilty, but the judges did not believe them.

In February 1995 the Supreme Court of the Republic of China condemned the 3 defendants to death. Originally, they 3 would have been shot within short time, but then Minister of Justice Ma Ying-jeou refused to sign their death warrant and returned the whole case back to Supreme Court in hope for a retrial, mainly due to:

• The only 2 pieces of evidence to prove the 3 defendants' guilt was Wang Wen-hsiao's confessions and the NT$ 24 dollars found in Chuang Lin-hsun's home which was considered as booty. The evidence was too weak: Wang Wen-hsiao was executed too early to witness the case, and NT$ 24 dollars was a very small amount.

• All 4 defendants claimed they have been tortured without lawyer present during police interrogation, but the judges did not investigate this point thoroughly. Wang Wen-hsiao's brother Wang Wen-chung (王文忠) even claimed Hsichih police originally asked his brother to confess as an accomplice, but he had refused.

• There was no way to prove Yeh Ying-lan was really raped.

Between 1995 and 2000 Ma Ying-jeou and his 2 successors filed several retrial requests to the Supreme Court, but all of them were rejected. Meantime this case drew the attention of Amnesty International and was widely broadcast throughout the world, nicknamed as "the Hsichih Trio"^[20].

After long time effort Taiwan's Supreme Court finally ruled out a retrial on May 19, 2000, just one day before President Chen Shui-bian's inauguration. In January 13, 2003 Taiwan High Court verdicted that they 3 were not guily and released them, but the victims' families were unwilling to accept this verdict and kept on appealing. This case is still not settled so far, but with time passing the truth may remain unknown forever, and the 3 defendants' lives were already ruined.

[edit] Lu Jeng's case

Tainan native Lu Jeng (盧正), an unemployed former policeman, was charged of the kidnapping and murder of a local woman who herself and her husband were both Lu's high school classmates in December 1997. The Supreme Court of the Republic of China condemned Lu to death in June 2000 but Lu's family pointed out several suspicious points^[21]:

• Like the Hsichih Trio, Lu Jeng was long time tortured by police and was forced to make fake confessions.

• The judges intentionally ignored an apparent alibi that Lu Jeng was together with his juvenile niece during the exact time of the murder.

• The real kidnapper phoned the victim's husband during the crime. If Lu Jeng did commit the kidnapping, the victim's husband should have been able to identify Lu's voice.

• The verdict stated that the victim was strangled to death by Lu Jeng's shoelaces. However the autopsy showed the victim's strangulation burn did not match Lu's shoelaces.

Despite these suspicious points, then Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan still gave order to Lu Jeng's execution on September 7, 2000, just one day before that year's Mid-Autumn Festival. It was rumored that Lu Jeng remained sober after receiving 5 anaesthetic injections at 3AM so the firing squad had to shoot him while he was conscious, and his eyes remained opened after his death, a sign of injustice according to Chinese tradition. Lu Jeng's family kept on protesting but there is no concrete official response so far.

[edit] President Chen Shui-bian's policy towards abolishing death penalty

These 2 controversial cases apparently influenced local judicial system. Chen Ding-nan publicly announced his attitude towards abolishing death penalty in May 2001^[22] and his standpoints were further backed by President Chen Shui-bian^[23][24]. Although the right to abolish death penalty is held on the Legislative Yuan which is dominated by the opposing Pan-blue coalition(as well as being more conservative on this issue), meantime the Democratic Progressive Party government informally give moratorium by not signing death warrants except serious and uncontroversial big cases. As a result, the number of executions drops significantly since 2002. In an October 2006 interview, Chen Ding-nan's successor Shih Mao-lin (施茂林) said he would not sign any death warrant of the 19 defendants who were already condemned to death by Supreme Court in near future, because their cases were still being reviewed inside the Ministry^[25]. Such condition may remain until Chen Shui-bian's tenure expires on May 20, 2008.

[edit] External Links

• The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of China
• The Judicial Yuan of the Republic of China