On World Day Against the Death Penalty yesterday, anti-capital punishment and education reform activists urged the government to introduce the debate on death penalty in schools so that students could start thinking about controversial issues early.
“When we try to promote abolition of the death penalty, we often run into supporters of capital punishment who refuse to talk to us at all,” Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty executive director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
“They don’t know why we oppose the death penalty and aren’t interested in listening to us. They simply don’t want to talk to us because we represent something they don’t agree with,” the director said.
However, when those who support and oppose the death penalty have a chance to talk — at conferences and forums — about half of those who support the death penalty change their minds and raise constructive ideas on how capital punishment could be abolished without negatively impacting society, she said.
The situation highlights a problem in society — people are often reluctant to listen to what others have to say, especially when it concerns a controversial issue, and that is why discussion of controversial issues should be introduced into the education system, she said.
Nicolas Baudouin, policy officer of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan, who has spoken out against the death penalty and took part in the press conference, agreed.
“Supporting abolition of the death penalty is a decision that everyone must make for themselves. That is why a better understanding of the death penalty is needed,” he said. “This is more true for the younger generation, which needs to be informed since they will have to decide one day as citizens.”
He said that all studies showed that abolition of the death penalty did not lead to increases in crime and that the death penalty was not a more effective measure to stop crime than other punishments.
Rather, capital punishment “represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity,” Baudouin said. “Besides, any miscarriage of justice — which is inevitable in any legal system — is irreversible [in the case of capital punishment], bearing a terrible aftermath for the victims of mistrials.”
Joanna Feng (馮喬蘭), executive director of the Humanistic Education Foundation, said that discussing the death penalty in schools could be a good start for further debates on controversial issues in education, which would better prepare students for the real world.
“Our education system never allows students to talk about controversial issues, which means that students do not know how to face people with different opinions when they leave school,” Feng said.
“I believe that’s the main cause of confrontation — rather than debates and talks — in our society,” Feng said.
The activists, along with teachers, are taking part in a four-day seminar that began yesterday to come up with a teaching manual on the debate over the death penalty for Taiwanese teachers based on a manual published by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty this year.
READY: The CGA said it closely monitored China’s maritime exercise, deployed vessels to shadow the Chinese ships one-on-one and set up emergency response centers Chinese navy and coast guard ships have returned to China, signaling the end of a massive maritime exercise, authorities said yesterday. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) released images it said showed Chinese vessels sailing north in rough seas past Taiwan on Thursday, on their way to China. “All the Chinese coast guard went back to China yesterday, so although they have not officially made any announcement, we consider it over,” CGA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said. Beijing has not confirmed the drills and the Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not say whether the maneuvers had taken place when asked at a
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
PUBLIC TRANSPORT: As some roads would be fully or partially closed, people are advised to take the MRT, with services expanded to accommodate more riders This year’s Taipei Marathon, which has obtained its first gold label certification from World Athletics, is to be held from 5am to 1pm tomorrow and would have 28,000 participants. The race is to start from the Taipei City Plaza and would go through major roads throughout the city, with traffic control implemented from 6am to 2pm, officials said. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system and New Taipei City MRT Circle line would start operating at 5am on the day of the race, they said. The race would cover Renai Road, Xinyi Road, Hangzhou S Road, Aiguo east and west roads,
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
RSS