KMT Slams Court's Ruling On Death Penalty

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan has ruled that the country's use of the death penalty is partly unconstitutional. The main opposition party, the KMT, has criticized the guidelines as being the equivalent to outlawing the death penalty in practice.

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00:00This ruling today at the Constitutional Court was seen as the best chance in a generation

00:05to overturn the death penalty. Taiwan's 37 death row inmates argued that it was unconstitutional

00:13because it goes against the right to life enshrined in the country's constitution. But

00:19whereas the 12 justices in their judgement today said that the right to life is protected

00:25by the constitution, that protection is not absolute. They said the state may punish murder

00:32to protect people's lives for the purposes of just retribution and to maintain social

00:38order. They said that it was constitutional but its use should be limited and it can only

00:45be used for the most serious crimes. Now in a sense that's already what happens in Taiwan

00:52because even though there are still dozens of laws on the books that carry the capital

00:56punishment, it's only given out in practice to a handful of convictions for murder. And

01:04in recent years fewer people have been sentenced and fewer executions have been carried out.

01:11Now the fact that the court did not rule that it was unconstitutional has been met with

01:15disappointment tonight by activists. But on the other hand the main opposition party,

01:22the KMT, which is strongly in favour of capital punishment, they say that these guidelines

01:28are the equivalent to outlawing the death penalty in practice. And some legal scholars

01:34are saying that it's now going to be difficult to give the death penalty because how do you

01:41define what the most serious crimes are. Luffy Lee, John Su and Louise Watt in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.

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