Capital punishment in Taiwan
Encyclopedia
Capital punishment
is a legal form of punishment
in the Republic of China
(Taiwan). Before 2000, Taiwan had a relatively high execution rate when some strict laws were still in effect in the harsh political environment. However, after some controversial cases during the 1990s plus some officials' attitude towards abolition, the number of executions dropped significantly, with only three executions in 2005 and none between 2006 and 2009. Execution resumed in 2010 after strong pro-capital punishment activities burst out earlier that year.
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:
Article 63 of the Criminal Code also rules that death penalty cannot be imposed on juvenile offenders aged under 18 or senile offenders aged above 80 for any offenses.
Other special laws which rule non-compulsory capital offenses:
In practice since 2003 almost all death sentences and executions were only given to murder-related offenses. The last execution solely for crimes other than homicide took place in October 2002 to a Pingtung County
fisherman who trafficked 295kg heroin in 1993.
and a death order signed by the Minister of Justice. After the Supreme Court issues a final death sentence, the case is transferred to the Ministry of Justice
, waiting for the Minister of Justice to issue a final secret execution date. Generally the Ministry of Justice will allow some time for the condemned person to meet his or her family, arrange religious activities, and even get married before the execution. Should any new evidence or procedural flaw which may influence the verdict be discovered during this period, the condemned prisoner may plea to the Ministry of Justice, which may then delay the death warrant, if or when the Solicitor General of Supreme Prosecutors' Office makes a special appeal to Supreme Court for retrial. However such cases are very rare: to date only one condemned prisoner avoided capital punishment in this manner. 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. President Lee Teng-hui
also ordered two nationwide commutations in 1988 and 1991 in which two sentences were commuted from death to life imprisonment
.
The death order from the Minister of Justice is received and performed by the High Prosecutors' offices so executions are carried out inside the detention center
s of the five cities having a High Court: Taipei
, Taichung
, Tainan, Kaohsiung
and Hualien. Like Japan
, ROC death row
inmates are kept in detention centers but not prisons, and are kept under harsher conditions than general prisoners. They are imprisoned 2 persons per cell (or sole imprisonment for misbehaving or very violent inmates), handcuffed and fettered all day long (although since late 2006 the Ministry of Justice is experimenting with unfettering death row inmates who behave themselves), 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 practice religious
activities with permitted religious personnel.
Executions are carried out by handgun
shooting
aimed at the heart
from the back, or aimed at the brain stem
under the ear
if the prisoner consents to organ donation
. The execution time used to be 5AM, but was changed to 9PM in 1995 to reduce officials' workload. It was changed again to 7.30PM in 2010. Executions are performed in secret: nobody is informed beforehand, including the condemned. The execution chamber is located in the prison complex. The condemned is brought to the chamber by car, and would pay respects to the statue of Ksitigarbha
located outside the chamber before entering. Before the execution, the prisoner is brought to a special court next to the execution chamber to have their identities confirmed and any last words
recorded. They are then brought to the execution chamber and served their last meal
(which includes a bottle of kaoliang
). The condemned is then injected with strong anaesthetic to leave him or her completely senseless. They are then placed flat on the ground face down and shot. The executioners would then burn hell bank notes for the deceased before carrying away the corpse. It is customary for the condemned to place a NT$500 or 1000 banknote in their leg irons as a tip for the executioners.
After execution the High Prosecutors' Office in charge will announce the execution in detail. Although the Ministry of Justice has studied other methods including hanging
and lethal injection
since the early 1990s, execution by shooting (performed by local bailiff
s or military police
men) is the only execution method used in the ROC to date (including military executions).
ROC military sentences and executions are administered only by the Ministry of National Defense and have no connection 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.
The execution tally was at its height in late 1980s and early 1990s when the martial law was just lifted and the social order suddenly disintegrated. The strict Act for the Control and Punishment of Banditry took many prisoners' lives at that time.
Among the executed were a small number from the People's Republic of China
, the Philippines
, Thailand
, Malaysia and Singapore
. They were executed in the ROC for kidnapping, murder, or drug trafficking offenses.
According to the Death Penalty Procedural Rules (執行死刑規則) of Taiwan, executees who are willing to donate their organs are shot in the head. Twenty minutes after the execution, an examination is conducted to verify the death of the condemned. Prisoners donating organs should be sent to hospitals for organ collection after the completion of the execution is confirmed.
According to the Human Organ Transplantation Act (人體器官移植條例) of Taiwan, an organ donator can only donate after being judged as being brain dead by a doctor. When the ventilator is in use, there shall be a observation period of 12 hours for the first evaluation and a four hour period for the second evaluation to reach a judgement of brain death.
In Taiwan, the executees are often sent to hospitals for organ collection without legal confirmation of brain death. Hence, human vivisection for organ collection and transplantation is in practice in Taiwan. There was a case in 1991 in which an executee was found with spontaneous breath when being prepared for organ collection in the Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The executee was sent back to the execution ground to complete the execution. This case caused the Taipei Veterans General Hospital to refuse organ collection of executees for 8 years.
found at the scene. Wang confessed to the murder after they discovered his housebreaking and burglary
, but the police doubted how he alone could have killed two adults so easily and brutally. After torture Wang confessed another three 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 accomplice
s. These four young men 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 decomposed.
Wang Wen-hsiao was court-martial
ed and speedily executed in January 1992. The other three defendant
s were prosecuted by the Act for the Control and Punishment of Banditry which ruled compulsory death penalty for their crimes, if found guilty. During trial the 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 defendants to death. Originally, the three would have been shot within short time, but then Minister of Justice Ma Ying-jeou
refused to sign their death warrants and returned the whole case back to Supreme Court in hope of a retrial, due to shortcomings such as:
Between 1995 and 2000 Ma Ying-jeou and his 3 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".
After long time effort the Supreme Court finally ordered a retrial on May 19, 2000, just one day before former President Chen Shui-bian
's inauguration. On January 13, 2003 Taiwan High Court passed a verdict that they were not guilty and released them, but the victims' families were unwilling to accept this and kept on appeal
ing. On June 29, 2007 the
Taiwan High Court once again found the trio guilty and condemned them to death, but surprisingly did not put them into custody because "the 3 defendants are already worldwide famous and will be identified in any place", the first such case in the ROC history.
On Nov 12, 2010, the Taiwan High Court delivered a verdict, revoking the previous decision and finding the three not guilty, "as there was no proof for the crime they were accused of."
Despite these suspicious points, the Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan
ordered Lu Cheng's execution on September 7, 2000, just one day before that year's Mid-Autumn Festival
. It was rumored that Lu Cheng remained conscious after receiving five anesthetic injections at 3AM so the officials had to shoot him while he was conscious, and his eyes remained opened after his death. Lu Cheng's family has continued protesting but there has been no concrete official response to date.
and the Ministry of National Defense has made a public apology to the family of former air force private Chiang Kuo-ching for his wrongful execution in 1997. Chiang was arrested for the 1996 rape and murder of a five year old girl. Chiang was tortured into making a false confession by military counterintelligence. After reopening the case, investigators arrested Hsu Rong-chou, who has a record of sexual abuses, on 28 January 2011. Hsu has confessed to the crime. The officials who handled the original investigation are protected by the statute of limitations for public employees.
A buddhist monk, Hsing Yun claimed that the abolishment of capital punishment is not valid by the laws of karma
and vipāka
in Buddhism
. He has written,
.
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, the Democratic Progressive Party
government informally gave a moratorium
by not signing death warrants except for serious and noncontroversial significant cases. As a result, the number of executions have dropped 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
for 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.
These conditions remained in effect until Chen Shui-bian's tenure expired on May 20, 2008.
In May 2008, Chen Shui-bian's successor Ma Ying-jeou
nominated Wang Ching-feng
as the Minister of Justice. Wang also held an anti-capital punishment standpoint and delayed every death case delivered to the Minister's Office. Until March 2010, a total of 44 Supreme Court's condemned prisoners were detained by the Ministry but Wang still publicly announced her strong attitude towards anti-capital punishment during media interview. This caused controversy and the consensus suddenly broke out after entertainer Pai Ping-ping
(whose daughter Pai Hsiao-yen
was kidnapped and murdered in 1997) held strong protest against Wang. Wang, who originally refused to step down, resigned out of social pressure on March 11, 2010. Wang's successor Tseng Yung-Fu(曾勇夫) promised to premier Wu Den-yih
that he would resume executions.
, of the European Union deplored the executions and hoped the Taiwanese authorities to abolish capital punishment.
http://english.rti.org.tw/Content/GetSingleNews.aspx?ContentID=111824
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?ID=201010160005&Type=aTOD
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
is a legal form of punishment
Punishment
Punishment is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person or animal in response to behavior deemed wrong by an individual or group....
in the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
(Taiwan). Before 2000, Taiwan had a relatively high execution rate when some strict laws were still in effect in the harsh political environment. However, after some controversial cases during the 1990s plus some officials' attitude towards abolition, the number of executions dropped significantly, with only three executions in 2005 and none between 2006 and 2009. Execution resumed in 2010 after strong pro-capital punishment activities burst out earlier that year.
Under military law
The Criminal Law of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍刑法) rules the following crimes eligible for death penalty on military personnel::- TreasonTreasonIn law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
(Article 14, 15) - CollaborationCollaborationismCollaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
(Article 17, 18) - EspionageEspionageEspionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
(Article 19, 20) - DefectionDefectionIn politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
(Article 24) - MalfeasanceMalfeasanceThe expressions misfeasance and nonfeasance, and occasionally malfeasance, are used in English law with reference to the discharge of public obligations existing by common law, custom or statute.-Definition and relevant rules of law:...
(Article 26, 27) - Disclosure of intelligence or secrets (Article 31)
- DesertionDesertionIn military terminology, desertion is the abandonment of a "duty" or post without permission and is done with the intention of not returning...
(Article 41, 42) - Disobeying orders (Article 47, 48)
- MutinyMutinyMutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
(Article 49, 50) - HijackAircraft hijackingAircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
ing (Article 53) - Destroying military supplies and equipment (Article 58)
- Stealing and selling ammunitionAmmunitionAmmunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
(Article 65) - Fabricating orders (Article 66)
Under civilian law
- Treason (Article 101)
- Espionage (Article 103, 104, 105, 107)
- Hijacking (Article 185-1)
- MurderMurderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
(Article 271, 272) - RobberyRobberyRobbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
with murder, rapeRapeRape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, or arsonArsonArson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
(Article 332) - PiracyPiracyPiracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
(Article 333, 334) - Kidnapping (Article 347, 348)
Article 63 of the Criminal Code also rules that death penalty cannot be imposed on juvenile offenders aged under 18 or senile offenders aged above 80 for any offenses.
Other special laws which rule non-compulsory capital offenses:
- Unauthorized manufacture, trafficking or selling of heroin, opiumOpiumOpium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
, morphineMorphineMorphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
or cocaineCocaineCocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
(Act for the Control of Drug Abuse, zh:毒品危害防制條例 Article 4) - Unauthorized manufacture, trafficking or selling of firearmFirearmA firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
weapons (Act for the Control of Weapons, zh:槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例 Article 7) - Serious counterfeitCounterfeitTo counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...
ing which disturbs financial order (Act for the Punishment of Counterfeiting, zh:妨害國幣懲治條例 Article 3)
In practice since 2003 almost all death sentences and executions were only given to murder-related offenses. The last execution solely for crimes other than homicide took place in October 2002 to a Pingtung County
Pingtung County
Pingtung County is a county in Southern Taiwan. Pingtung County is officially administered as a county of the Republic of China . The oldest national park in Taiwan, Kenting National Park, was established in Pingtung County in 1984...
fisherman who trafficked 295kg heroin in 1993.
Defunct laws
The following two laws gave certain offenses a mandatory death penalty. More than half of the executed 658 people mentioned earlier were sentenced in accordance with these laws:- Act for the Control and Punishment of Rebellion (zh:懲治叛亂條例, rescinded in May 1991) which imposed a mandatory death sentence on treason, espionage and defection. Enacted in 1949 when the Central GovernmentGovernment of the Republic of ChinaThe Republic of China was formally established by Dr. Sun Yat-sen in 1912 in Nanjing under the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China but this government was moved to Beijing in the same year and continued as the internationally recognized government of China until 1928. In the history...
just retreated to Taiwan, 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-martialCourt-martialA court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
led. For example, Bo YangBo YangThis article is about the Chinese writer. His name in Western languages is homonymic with Bó Yáng .Boyang , also sometimes called Baiyang, was a Chinese language writer based in Taiwan...
and Shih Ming-tehShih Ming-tehShih Ming-te or Shih Ming-teh was a political prisoner for 25-and-a-half years in the Republic of China .He was arrested at the age of 21 in 1962 and charged with creating the "Taiwan Independence League" with the intention of overthrowing the Kuomintang government, Shih was sentenced to life...
were both sentenced to death by this law, however they were finally given life imprisonmentLife imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
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) which ruled mandatory death penalty on kidnapping, piracy, or robbery along with murder, rape, or arson. Originally enacted as a short-term special law by the Kuomintang government during the Second Sino-Japanese WarSecond Sino-Japanese WarThe Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
period, the law was extended for long time due to all sorts of accidental mishaps.
Execution process
A ROC judicial execution requires a final sentence from the Supreme Court of the Republic of ChinaSupreme Court of the Republic of China
The Supreme Court of the Republic of China -History:In 1927, the government of the Republic of China renamed Dali Yuan to the Supreme Court...
and a death order signed by the Minister of Justice. After the Supreme Court issues a final death sentence, the case is transferred to the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice (Republic of China)
The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of China is a ministerial level governmental body of the Executive Yuan. It is responsible for carrying out various judicial functions in the Republic of China .-Organization:...
, waiting for the Minister of Justice to issue a final secret execution date. Generally the Ministry of Justice will allow some time for the condemned person to meet his or her family, arrange religious activities, and even get married before the execution. Should any new evidence or procedural flaw which may influence the verdict be discovered during this period, the condemned prisoner may plea to the Ministry of Justice, which may then delay the death warrant, if or when the Solicitor General of Supreme Prosecutors' Office makes a special appeal to Supreme Court for retrial. However such cases are very rare: to date only one condemned prisoner avoided capital punishment in this manner. The President of Republic of China can also award clemency, but so far only President Chiang Kai-Shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
ever exercised this legal right on an individual prisoner once in 1957. President Lee Teng-hui
Lee Teng-hui
Lee Teng-hui is a politician of the Republic of China . He was the 7th, 8th, and 9th-term President of the Republic of China and Chairman of the Kuomintang from 1988 to 2000. He presided over major advancements in democratic reforms including his own re-election which marked the first direct...
also ordered two nationwide commutations in 1988 and 1991 in which two sentences were commuted from death to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
.
The death order from the Minister of Justice is received and performed by the High Prosecutors' offices so executions are carried out inside the detention center
Detention center
A detention center or a detention centre is any location used for detention. Specifically, it can mean:*A jail or prison*A structure for immigration detention*An internment camp or concentration camp...
s of the five cities having a High Court: Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
, Taichung
Taichung
-Demographics:Taichung’s population was an estimated 1,040,725 in August 2006. There are slightly more females in the city than males.24.32% of residents are children, while 16.63% are young people, 52.68% are middle-age, and 6.73% are elderly....
, Tainan, Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung is a city located in southwestern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on the west. Kaohsiung, officially named Kaohsiung City, is divided into thirty-eight districts. The city is one of five special municipalities of the Republic of China...
and Hualien. Like Japan
Capital punishment in Japan
Capital punishment is legal in Japan. The only crimes for which capital punishment is statutory are homicide and treason. Between 1946 and 1993, Japanese courts sentenced 766 people to death , 608 of whom were executed...
, ROC death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
inmates are kept in detention centers but not prisons, and are kept under harsher conditions than general prisoners. They are imprisoned 2 persons per cell (or sole imprisonment for misbehaving or very violent inmates), handcuffed and fettered all day long (although since late 2006 the Ministry of Justice is experimenting with unfettering death row inmates who behave themselves), 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 practice religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
activities with permitted religious personnel.
Executions are carried out by handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
shooting
Execution by shooting
Execution by shooting is a form of capital punishment whereby an executed person is shot by one or more firearms. It is the most common method of execution worldwide, used in about 70 countries, with execution by firing squad being one particular form...
aimed at the heart
Heart
The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
from the back, or aimed at the brain stem
Brain stem
In vertebrate anatomy the brainstem is the posterior part of the brain, adjoining and structurally continuous with the spinal cord. The brain stem provides the main motor and sensory innervation to the face and neck via the cranial nerves...
under the ear
Ear
The ear is the organ that detects sound. It not only receives sound, but also aids in balance and body position. The ear is part of the auditory system....
if the prisoner consents to organ donation
Organ donation
Organ donation is the donation of biological tissue or an organ of the human body, from a living or dead person to a living recipient in need of a transplantation. Transplantable organs and tissues are removed in a surgical procedure following a determination, based on the donor's medical and...
. The execution time used to be 5AM, but was changed to 9PM in 1995 to reduce officials' workload. It was changed again to 7.30PM in 2010. Executions are performed in secret: nobody is informed beforehand, including the condemned. The execution chamber is located in the prison complex. The condemned is brought to the chamber by car, and would pay respects to the statue of Ksitigarbha
Ksitigarbha
Ksitigarbha is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism, usually depicted as a Buddhist monk in the Orient. The name may be translated as "Earth Treasury", "Earth Store", "Earth Matrix", or "Earth Womb"...
located outside the chamber before entering. Before the execution, the prisoner is brought to a special court next to the execution chamber to have their identities confirmed and any last words
Last words
Last words are a person's final words spoken before death.Last Words may also refer to:* Last Words , an Australian punk band* Last Words , a memoir by George Carlin* Last Words , a 1968 short film directed by Werner Herzog...
recorded. They are then brought to the execution chamber and served their last meal
Last meal
The last meal is a customary part of a condemned prisoner's last day. Often, the day of, or before, the appointed time of execution, the prisoner receives a last meal, as well as religious rites, if they desire. In the United States, inmates generally may not ask for an alcoholic drink...
(which includes a bottle of kaoliang
Kaoliang
Kaoliang jiu is a strong distilled liquor, made from fermented sorghum . It is made and sold in both mainland China and Taiwan, and also popular in Korea, where it is called goryangju...
). The condemned is then injected with strong anaesthetic to leave him or her completely senseless. They are then placed flat on the ground face down and shot. The executioners would then burn hell bank notes for the deceased before carrying away the corpse. It is customary for the condemned to place a NT$500 or 1000 banknote in their leg irons as a tip for the executioners.
After execution the High Prosecutors' Office in charge will announce the execution in detail. Although the Ministry of Justice has studied other methods including hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
and lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
since the early 1990s, execution by shooting (performed by local bailiff
Bailiff
A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...
s or military police
Military police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
men) is the only execution method used in the ROC to date (including military executions).
ROC military sentences and executions are administered only by the Ministry of National Defense and have no connection 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
Kinmen
Kinmen , also known as Quemoy , is a small archipelago of several islands administered by the Republic of China : Greater Kinmen, Lesser Kinmen, and some islets. Administratively, it is Kinmen County of Fujian Province, ROC. The county is claimed by the People's Republic of China as part of its...
and Matsu
Matsu Islands
The Matsu Islands are a minor archipelago of 19 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait administered as Lienchiang County , Fujian Province of the Republic of China . Only a small area of what is historically Lienchiang County is under the control of the ROC...
. Unlike the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of National Defense does not compile detailed information concerning this issue so the real situation is unclear.
Execution statistics
ROC's Ministry of Justice annually publishes detailed statistics on this year's executions, including the executed person's name, age, sex, crime, nationality, education, etc. The detailed numbers of executions since 1987 are listed below:| 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 22 | 69 | 78 | 59 | 35 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 22 | 38 |
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006~2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| 32 | 24 | 17 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
The execution tally was at its height in late 1980s and early 1990s when the martial law was just lifted and the social order suddenly disintegrated. The strict Act for the Control and Punishment of Banditry took many prisoners' lives at that time.
Among the executed were a small number from the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Malaysia and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. They were executed in the ROC for kidnapping, murder, or drug trafficking offenses.
Human vivisection
There are accounts in which the organs were retrieved from the executed prisoners while they were still medically alive.According to the Death Penalty Procedural Rules (執行死刑規則) of Taiwan, executees who are willing to donate their organs are shot in the head. Twenty minutes after the execution, an examination is conducted to verify the death of the condemned. Prisoners donating organs should be sent to hospitals for organ collection after the completion of the execution is confirmed.
According to the Human Organ Transplantation Act (人體器官移植條例) of Taiwan, an organ donator can only donate after being judged as being brain dead by a doctor. When the ventilator is in use, there shall be a observation period of 12 hours for the first evaluation and a four hour period for the second evaluation to reach a judgement of brain death.
In Taiwan, the executees are often sent to hospitals for organ collection without legal confirmation of brain death. Hence, human vivisection for organ collection and transplantation is in practice in Taiwan. There was a case in 1991 in which an executee was found with spontaneous breath when being prepared for organ collection in the Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The executee was sent back to the execution ground to complete the execution. This case caused the Taipei Veterans General Hospital to refuse organ collection of executees for 8 years.
Torture
Torture also exists in the investigation process, which may interfere with the credibility of the verdict.The Hsichih Trio case
In March 1991 a 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 the 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 fingerprintFingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
found at the scene. Wang confessed to the murder after they discovered his housebreaking and burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
, but the police doubted how he alone could have killed two adults so easily and brutally. After torture Wang confessed another three 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 accomplice
Accomplice
At law, an accomplice is a person who actively participates in the commission of a crime, even though they take no part in the actual criminal offense. For example, in a bank robbery, the person who points the gun at the teller and asks for the money is guilty of armed robbery...
s. These four young men further confessed they gang raped Yeh Ying-lan during their action, but the autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
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 decomposed.
Wang Wen-hsiao was court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
ed and speedily executed in January 1992. The other three defendant
Defendant
A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute...
s were prosecuted by the Act for the Control and Punishment of Banditry which ruled compulsory death penalty for their crimes, if found guilty. During trial the 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
Supreme Court of the Republic of China
The Supreme Court of the Republic of China -History:In 1927, the government of the Republic of China renamed Dali Yuan to the Supreme Court...
condemned the defendants to death. Originally, the three would have been shot within short time, but then Minister of Justice Ma Ying-jeou
Ma Ying-jeou
Ma Ying-jeou is the 12th term and current President of the Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, and the Chairman of the Kuomintang Party, also known as the Chinese Nationalist Party. He formerly served as Justice Minister from 1993 to 1996, Mayor of Taipei from 1998 to 2006, and Chairman...
refused to sign their death warrants and returned the whole case back to Supreme Court in hope of a retrial, due to shortcomings such as:
- The only two pieces of evidence to prove the defendants' guilt was Wang Wen-hsiao's confessions and the NT$ 24 dollars (less than 1 USD) found in Chuang Lin-hsun's home which was considered bootyBootyCategory:Article Feedback Blacklist...
. The evidence was too weak: Wang Wen-hsiao was executed too early to witness the case, and NT$ 24 dollars was a tiny amount. - All four 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 if Yeh Ying-lan was raped.
Between 1995 and 2000 Ma Ying-jeou and his 3 successors filed several retrial requests to the Supreme Court, but all of them were rejected. Meantime this case drew the attention of Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
and was widely broadcast throughout the world, nicknamed as "the Hsichih Trio".
After long time effort the Supreme Court finally ordered a retrial on May 19, 2000, just one day before former President Chen Shui-bian
Chen Shui-bian
Chen Shui-bian is a former Taiwanese politician who was the 10th and 11th-term President of the Republic of China from 2000 to 2008. Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally been supportive of Taiwan independence, ended more than fifty years of Kuomintang rule in Taiwan...
's inauguration. On January 13, 2003 Taiwan High Court passed a verdict that they were not guilty and released them, but the victims' families were unwilling to accept this and kept on appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
ing. On June 29, 2007 the
Taiwan High Court once again found the trio guilty and condemned them to death, but surprisingly did not put them into custody because "the 3 defendants are already worldwide famous and will be identified in any place", the first such case in the ROC history.
On Nov 12, 2010, the Taiwan High Court delivered a verdict, revoking the previous decision and finding the three not guilty, "as there was no proof for the crime they were accused of."
Lu Cheng's case
Tainan native Lu Cheng (盧正), an unemployed former policeman, was charged with the kidnapping and murder of a local woman Chan Chun-tzu(詹春子) who along with 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:- Like the Hsichih Trio, Lu Cheng was tortured by police for a long period and was forced to provide confessions.
- The judges intentionally ignored an apparent alibiAlibiAlibi is a 1929 American crime film directed by Roland West. The screenplay was written by West and C. Gardner Sullivan, who adapted the 1927 Broadway stage play, Nightstick, written by Elaine Sterne Carrington, J.C...
that Lu Cheng was together with his juvenile niece at the exact time of the murder. - The kidnapper phoned the victim's husband during the crime. If Lu Cheng had committed 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 Cheng's shoelaces. However the autopsyAutopsyAn autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
showed the victim's strangulation burn did not match Lu's shoelaces.
Despite these suspicious points, the Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan
Chen Ding-nan
Chen Ding-Nan was a Taiwanese politician.-Entry into politics:As a Yilan County native, Chen received a bachelor's degree in Law from the National Taiwan University in 1966. After graduation Chen ran various business in Yilan...
ordered Lu Cheng's execution on September 7, 2000, just one day before that year's Mid-Autumn Festival
Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival , also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival or Zhongqiu Festival, is a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese people. A description of the festival first appeared in Rites of Zhou, a written collection of rituals of the Western Zhou...
. It was rumored that Lu Cheng remained conscious after receiving five anesthetic injections at 3AM so the officials had to shoot him while he was conscious, and his eyes remained opened after his death. Lu Cheng's family has continued protesting but there has been no concrete official response to date.
Chiang Kuo-ching's case
President Ma Ying-jeouMa Ying-jeou
Ma Ying-jeou is the 12th term and current President of the Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, and the Chairman of the Kuomintang Party, also known as the Chinese Nationalist Party. He formerly served as Justice Minister from 1993 to 1996, Mayor of Taipei from 1998 to 2006, and Chairman...
and the Ministry of National Defense has made a public apology to the family of former air force private Chiang Kuo-ching for his wrongful execution in 1997. Chiang was arrested for the 1996 rape and murder of a five year old girl. Chiang was tortured into making a false confession by military counterintelligence. After reopening the case, investigators arrested Hsu Rong-chou, who has a record of sexual abuses, on 28 January 2011. Hsu has confessed to the crime. The officials who handled the original investigation are protected by the statute of limitations for public employees.
For capital punishment
- Hsing YunHsing YunHsing Yun is a well-known Buddhist monk, as well as an important figure in modern reformation of Mahayana Buddhism in Taiwan and China. Hsing Yun is the founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order and the affiliated Buddha's Light International Association, one of the largest international...
(釋星雲)
A buddhist monk, Hsing Yun claimed that the abolishment of capital punishment is not valid by the laws of karma
Karma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
and vipāka
Vipaka
Vipāka is a Buddhist technical term meaning the result of karma , or intentional actions.In Buddhist belief, the law of kamma-vipāka is of great importance. In a discourse the Buddha said “Intention, monks, is kamma I say...
in Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. He has written,
"However, although "severe punishments in chaotic time (亂世用重典)" do not necessarily have effects in stopping crimes, abolishing capital punishment is not valid by the laws of karma and vipāka in Buddhism, because "a karma as such induces a vipāka as such (如是因，招感如是果)"; having committed a karma without experiencing the vipāka is not compatible with reason. Hence, we can wish to reduce the capital punishment, not to recur to the capital punishment, to substitute the capital punishment by other measures, but we do not claim for the abolishment of the capital punishment."
Temporary Moratorium between 2006 and 2009
These controversial cases apparently influenced the local judicial system. Chen Ding-nan publicly announced his intention to abolish the death penalty in May 2001 and his views were further backed by President Chen Shui-bianChen Shui-bian
Chen Shui-bian is a former Taiwanese politician who was the 10th and 11th-term President of the Republic of China from 2000 to 2008. Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally been supportive of Taiwan independence, ended more than fifty years of Kuomintang rule in Taiwan...
.
Although the right to abolish death penalty is held on the Legislative Yuan
Legislative Yuan
The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China .The Legislative Yuan is one of the five branches of government stipulated by the Constitution of the Republic of China, which follows Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People...
which is dominated by the opposing Pan-blue coalition
Pan-Blue Coalition
The Pan-Blue Coalition 泛藍聯盟 or Pan-Blue Force is a political alliance in the Republic of China , consisting of the Kuomintang , the People First Party , and the New Party . The name comes from the party colours of the Kuomintang...
, as well as being more conservative on this issue, the Democratic Progressive Party
Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party is a political party in Taiwan, and the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition. Founded in 1986, DPP is the first meaningful opposition party in Taiwan. It has traditionally been associated with strong advocacy of human rights and a distinct Taiwanese identity,...
government informally gave a moratorium
Moratorium (law)
A moratorium is a delay or suspension of an activity or a law. In a legal context, it may refer to the temporary suspension of a law to allow a legal challenge to be carried out....
by not signing death warrants except for serious and noncontroversial significant cases. As a result, the number of executions have dropped 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
Execution warrant
An execution warrant is a writ which authorizes the execution of a judgment of death on an individual...
for 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.
These conditions remained in effect until Chen Shui-bian's tenure expired on May 20, 2008.
In May 2008, Chen Shui-bian's successor Ma Ying-jeou
Ma Ying-jeou
Ma Ying-jeou is the 12th term and current President of the Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, and the Chairman of the Kuomintang Party, also known as the Chinese Nationalist Party. He formerly served as Justice Minister from 1993 to 1996, Mayor of Taipei from 1998 to 2006, and Chairman...
nominated Wang Ching-feng
Wang Ching-feng
Wang Ching-feng is a Taiwanese lawyer and politician.Wang graduated from the Taipei First Girls' High School and received her bachelor and master degrees in law from National Chengchi University. Wang has been working as a lawyer since graduation. Since 1987, she has been organising activities to...
as the Minister of Justice. Wang also held an anti-capital punishment standpoint and delayed every death case delivered to the Minister's Office. Until March 2010, a total of 44 Supreme Court's condemned prisoners were detained by the Ministry but Wang still publicly announced her strong attitude towards anti-capital punishment during media interview. This caused controversy and the consensus suddenly broke out after entertainer Pai Ping-ping
Pai Ping-ping
Pai Ping-ping is a Taiwanese singer, actress, media personality and social activist.-Career:Born to an impoverished family in Keelung, Pai dropped out of formal education in her teenage years. In 1973 she won a prize in a singing contest held by Taiwan Television and following this success she...
(whose daughter Pai Hsiao-yen
Pai Hsiao-yen
Pai Hsiao-yen was the only daughter of popular Taiwanese TV host and actress Pai Ping-ping and Japanese author Ikki Kajiwara....
was kidnapped and murdered in 1997) held strong protest against Wang. Wang, who originally refused to step down, resigned out of social pressure on March 11, 2010. Wang's successor Tseng Yung-Fu(曾勇夫) promised to premier Wu Den-yih
Wu Den-yih
Wu Den-yih is a Taiwanese politician of the Kuomintang Party, and the current Premier of the Republic of China.-Personal:Wu was born in Tsaotun, Nantou County, Taiwan...
that he would resume executions.
Execution Resumed
On April 30, 2010, Tseng Yung-Fu gave order to 4 executions, ending the 52-month moratorium. Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security PolicyHigh Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is the main co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy within the European Union...
, of the European Union deplored the executions and hoped the Taiwanese authorities to abolish capital punishment.
New developments
Currently (October 2010), the Justice Ministry is mulling replacing the death penalty by lifetime imprisonment without parole.http://english.rti.org.tw/Content/GetSingleNews.aspx?ContentID=111824
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?ID=201010160005&Type=aTOD