Taiwan not ready to abolish death penalty: president
2015/05/31 13:59:52
Taipei, May 31 (CNA) Taiwan's government is currently unable to abolish capital punishment because society still needs time to reach a consensus on the issue, presidential spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) cited President Ma Ying-jeou as saying Sunday.
Chen's remark came after some interpreted a comment by Ma a day earlier as a sign that his administration might be considering abolishing the death penalty.
When asked by a reporter on his view of rising calls against the scrapping of the death penalty following the recent murder of an eight-year-old girl in a school bathroom, Ma said two opposing views have been in the debate for quite some time -- some people believe that capital punishment is unable to provide a deterrent, while others believe that abolishing the punishment will actually encourage crime.
"I think we better observe this for some more time," Ma said.
On Sunday, Chen cited Ma as saying that the government is unable to scrap capital punishment at the moment, but will continue to work toward reducing its use.
When meeting recently with a British all-party parliamentary group in favor of the abolition of the death penalty, Ma noted that the majority of the people in Taiwan are against abolishing capital punishment, Chen said.
The president also cited a Ministry of Justice poll in 2012 showing that 76.7 percent of the respondents are against scrapping the death penalty, while over 85 percent believe that abolishing the death penalty would affect public security, Chen said.
(By Liu Li-jung and Christie Chen)
