Sketching the Blueprint for Abolishing the Death Penalty in Taiwan
Book Launch and discussion panel on the new book
New Ideology beyond thePros and Cons of Death Penalty

June 1st, 2009 TAEDP Press Release

Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP 廢除死刑推動聯盟) is hosting the launch of New Ideology beyond the Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty today. It is an essay collection grown out of the conference of “New Perspectives on Abolishing the Death Penalty” Seminar organized by the TAEDP in November 2008. The seminar was attended by both Taiwanese and German experts, who shared and discussed theoretical interpretations of death penalty issues and their extensive practical experiences in the field. In addition to essays by academic scholars, the book provides a faithful account of the various discussions during the conference, including aspects related to social security, prison reform, and victim protection. This book aims to provoke and instill new ways of thinking on the issue of death penalty among the Taiwanese public, and eventually to lead to the abolition of death penalty in Taiwan. The book is published with the sponsor of the German Institute Taipei (德國在台協會) and help from Angle Publishing Co. (元照出版社).

Say NO to Judicial Indolence and Sham Justice
A Press Conference by NGOs Supporting Defendants Chiou Ho-shun et al.

Joint Press Release by the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Judicial Reform Foundation, Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, and Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty 【21 May 2009】

Chiou Ho-shun and his co-defendants were indicted 22 years ago in the case of the murder of Ms. Ko Hung Yu-lan and the kidnapping of schoolboy Lu Cheng (two cases joined as a single case by the prosecutors in the indictment). The judiciary still has not handed down a final and conclusive judgment in this case, making it the longest-running undecided case with defendants in detention in Taiwan's judicial history. The defendants Chiou Ho-shun and Lin Kun-ming have been in detention for over 21 years. The other original defendants have successively waived their rights of appeal, having chosen to serve out sentences rather than suffer continued protracted litigation and the risk of remaining deprived of their liberty, but they have continued to state their innocence. Proven criminal conduct by the police and abuses of authority by prosecutors during the investigation and prosecution of this case, and ingrained indolence on the parts of the judges who have heard the case on repeated appeals over the years, make this case a vivid example of issues underlying Taiwan's failure to make real strides in reforms toward protecting human rights in criminal judicial procedure.

 “New Perspectives on the Death Penalty”
Book Launch Press Conference and Symposium
~Drawing a Blueprint for the Abolition of Death Penalty in Taiwan

Time: 1400 – 1600, Monday, 1 June 2009,
Location: Room 3B, NTU Alumni Association Building (No.2-1, Sec. 1, Jinan Rd., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City 100, Taiwan)
Registration: Please click here to register
*Note: If you are among the first 40 registered people and attend the activity, you will get a free copy of the new book. (You have to appear in person to get the book.)