The Legislative Yuan, rather than the Constitutional Court, should decide whether the death penalty should be abolished, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday, adding that the court should not step on the authority of the legislative branch.
The court today is to hear lawyers representing 37 inmates on death row, Ministry of Justice officials and legal experts debate the constitutionality of the death penalty.
KMT cultural and communications committee director-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday that a Ministry of Justice survey in 2020 showed that more than 76 percent of respondents opposed abolishing the death penalty, and 56.5 percent said the death penalty should still be in place even if people could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Whether the death penalty should be abolished should be decided by the legislative branch, and the Constitutional Court should not overstep its authority, Lee said.
Judicial Yuan President and Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) would only hurt the credibility of the judicial system if he intends to abolish the death penalty as a “graduation gift” to President Tsai Ying-wen (蔡英文) when her term ends next month, she said.
People should not equate capital punishment with disrespecting human rights, KMT Legislator Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) said, adding that right of the families of victims to seek justice should be considered as well.
The death sentence for murder should not be abolished, but the government could consider eliminating it for other offenses, Wu said.
“We should consider using life imprisonment without the possibility of parole to replace capital punishment to a certain extent,” Wu said.
Taiwan Victim Human Rights Association chairman Chao Wei-han (趙惟漢) said that penetrators of homicides have no right to take lives, adding that justice would be dead if people do not fight to retain the death penalty.
“Courts have stopped sentencing people to death, the justice ministry has stopped executing inmates on death row. The government-funded Association for Victims Support has also stopped speaking for victims of homicides. President Tsai, the Democratic Progressive Party and the Constitutional Court should hear the voice of the people,” Chao said.
Association vice chairman Hsu Fu-sheng (許福生) said victims’ families would experience the pain of losing their loved ones all over again if the government did not execute perpetrators who had been sentenced to death.
“Policymakers should consider the feelings of victims’ families. Taiwanese society has yet to reach a consensus on abolishing capital punishment. If the grand justices declare the death penalty unconstitutional, it would only trigger division and conflict in society,” he said.
Asked about the issue, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) told reporters that Taiwan is a free and democratic country and is governed by the rule of law, and separation of powers is a principle clearly stated in the Constitution.
The Judicial Yuan has the right to interpret the Constitution and determine whether the death penalty is constitutional, and the Executive Yuan respects the Judicial Yuan’s authority to do so, he said.
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