Taiwan

RetentionistLegal status of the death penalty*
49Number of individuals currently under sentence of death
0Executions in 2022
0Executions in 2021
1Executions in 2020

2018Last known execution
Lethal Injection, ShootingMethod(s) of execution
Not applicableParty to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Not applicableParty to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty
Not applicableParty to the American Convention on Human Rights
Not applicableParty to the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty
Not applicableUN Moratorium Resolution (2010): cosponsor
Not applicableUN Moratorium Resolution (2010): vote
Not applicableUN Moratorium Resolution (2010): has signed the Note Verbale of Dissociation
Not applicableUN Moratorium Resolution (2012): cosponsor
Not applicableUN Moratorium Resolution (2012): vote
Not applicableUN Moratorium Resolution (2012): has signed the Note Verbale of Dissociation
NoDoes the country have a mandatory death penalty?
2023-05-23Last update


Source: Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide
*Source of classification: Amnesty International

Related document(s)

Document(s)

Legislators’ Opinions on the Death Penalty in Taiwan

on 24 March 2022


2022

NGO report

Public Opinion 

Taiwan

zh-hant
More details See the document

In 2021, The Death Penalty Project and the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) commissioned Professor Carolyn Hoyle at the University of Oxford and Professor Shiow-duan Hawang at Soochow University, Taipei to carry out a study exploring Taiwanese legislators’ attitudes towards capital punishment.

The study reveals that the majority of Taiwan’s legislators would like to see the death penalty abolished. The risk of wrongful convictions, the abuse of human rights and a recognition that the death penalty has no unique deterrent effect, were the primary reasons cited for supporting abolition. Additionally, a majority of legislators interviewed expressed fairly low levels of trust in the Taiwanese criminal justice system, with doubts raised over its ability to offer adequate safeguards to individuals facing capital trials.

Key findings:

– 61% of legislators interviewed are in favour of abolishing the death penalty
– 39% of legislators interviewed are in favour of retaining the death penalty, but only one legislator was strongly in favour
– 71% of retentionists and 65% of abolitionists asserted that wrongful convictions ‘sometimes’ occurred
– Only 11% of legislators interviewed thought that wrongful convictions ‘rarely’ occur
– All legislators interviewed expressed a preference for social justice measures, such as poverty reduction, over increased executions when asked to rank a range of policies aimed at reducing violent crime

Document(s)

The Clemency Process in East and Southeast Asia

on 22 March 2022


2022

NGO report

China

Clemency

Indonesia

Japan

Malaysia

Singapore

Taiwan

Thailand

Viet Nam


More details Download [ - 0 Ko ]

In this report, we summarise the current international position on clemency and the death penalty and compare it to snapshots of the clemency processes in the following Southeast and East Asian countries: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, and China. All references to clemency in this paper are in the context of reprieve from the death penalty.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list China / Indonesia / Japan / Malaysia / Singapore / Taiwan / Thailand / Viet Nam
  • Themes list Clemency

Document(s)

Overview on death row inmates: Taiwan’s Experience

By Lin Hsinyi, on 8 September 2020


2020

Multimedia content

Taiwan


More details Download [ pdf - 1863 Ko ]

Presentation of Lin Hsinyi, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty for the Fact-finding workshop focused on the socioeconomic status of people on death row which took place during the 2017 General Assembly of the World Coalition

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Taiwan
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Death Row Conditions, Death Row Phenomenon, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Statistics,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Taiwan: a Report on Taiwan’s legal obligations under the ICCPR

By David T. Johnson / The Death Penalty Project / Wen-Chen Chang, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

Taiwan


More details See the document

The report highlights specific aspects of Taiwan’s domestic legal order that does not meet the minimum standards under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Taiwan passed legislation to incorporate the ICCPR into the domestic legal order in 2009, yet the current death penalty practice is largely out of line with the contemporary understanding of the ICCPR as it relates to the death penalty.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Taiwan
  • Themes list International law, Country/Regional profiles,
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