Justice Minister Wang Ching-feng

TAIWAN: JUSTICE MINISTER THREATENS TO RESIGN RATHER THAN APPROVE EXECUTIONS

March 10, 2010: Justice Minister Wang Ching-feng said she’d rather resign than have one prisoner executed during her term in office.
“People who died could not come back to life, so guaranteeing the right to life should not be a thing of the future, but should be advancing right now,” her statement said.
The Ministry of Justice has not executed a single person since December 2005, though there are at present 44 prisoners on death row.
The death penalty was the most dangerous sentence, because judges could make different interpretations based on the same evidence and end the life of a human, Wang said.
The minister said the existence of capital punishment could make people feel better, but in practice it was unable to deter criminals.
Wang told reporters she’d rather take the place of a death row prisoner than sign one execution during her term as minister. She also rejected accusations from lawmakers that not executing death row prisoners was illegal and unconstitutional. The Constitution guaranteed the right to life, she said.
The minister said lawmakers and the public would agree with her if she gave a clear explanation of her plans for long-term imprisonment to compensate for the abolition of the death penalty. (Sources: Taiwan News, 10/03/2010)