Taiwan
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- semi-presidential republic
- CONSTITUTION
- December 25, 1947, amended several times, last in 2005
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- is based on civil law
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- unicameral, Legislative Yuan
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Judicial Yuan, with judges appointed by the President for nine years with the consent of the National Assembly
RELIGIONS
Confucian and Buddhist majorities; Protestant and Catholic minorities
From the country
- JANUARY 16, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN EXECUTES DEATH ROW INMATE CONVICTED IN 2013 MURDERS
Taiwan on January 16, 2025 executed a death row inmate convicted in a 2013 double murder, marking the country's first execution since President Lai Ching-te took office last year.
JANUARY 15, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: DEATH PENALTY UPHELD FOR MURDERER OF MALAYSIAN STUDENT
The Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch on January 15, 2025 upheld a death sentence for a man found guilty of raping and murdering a Malaysian student in a retrial.
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2024TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN COURT RULES DEATH PENALTY CONSTITUTIONAL BUT ONLY FOR MOST SERIOUS CRIMES
Taiwan's constitutional court ruled on September 20, 2024 that the death penalty is constitutional but only for the most serious crimes with the most rigorous legal scrutiny, after considering a petition brought by 37 people who are on death row.
- JUNE 25, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA THREATENS DEATH PENALTY FOR 'DIEHARD' TAIWAN SEPARATISTS
China on June 21, 2024 threatened to impose the death penalty in extreme cases for "diehard" Taiwan independence separatists, a ratcheting up of pressure even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the democratically governed island.
MAY 9, 2024TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: MAN'S DEATH PENALTY COMMUTED TO LIFE SENTENCE AFTER FOUR RETRIALS
A Kaohsiung man's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on May 7, 2024 by the Kaohsiung Branch of the Taiwan High Court, after his case was retried for the fourth time.
- MARCH 19, 2024TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECLINES DEATH ROW INMATES' APPEAL FOR REVIEW
Taiwan’s constitutional court on March 18, 2024 declined to review an additional appeal lodged by 37 death row inmates on the grounds that it was submitted too late.
DECEMBER 7, 2023TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: DEATH PENALTY UPHELD IN EXECUTION-STYLE SHOOTING OF 5 IN NANTOU
Taiwan High Court's Taichung Branch Court on December 7, 2023 upheld the death penalty handed down by a lower court to a gunman found guilty of the execution-style shooting and killing of four people and critically injuring a fifth at a biotechnology comp
NOVEMBER 23, 2023TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: COP KILLER SENTENCED TO DEATH
A man convicted of stabbing two police officers to death in Tainan City last year has been given the death penalty.
- SEPTEMBER 30, 2023TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: MAN IN TIRE SHOP ARSON CASE SENTENCED TO DEATH BY HSINCHU COURT
The Hsinchu District Court on September 28, 2023 handed the death sentence to a man found guilty of arson that resulted in the death of eight family members in June last year.
MARCH 23, 2023TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY FOR MALAYSIAN STUDENT'S KILLER
The Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court on March 23, 2023 upheld the death sentence of a man who raped and murdered a Malaysian student of Chang Jung Christian University in Tainan in October 2020.
DECEMBER 14, 2022TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: MAN RECEIVES DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLING CLERK WHO ASKED HIM TO MASK UP
A paper sculpture artist was handed the death penalty by Taoyuan District Court on 13 December 2022 for stabbing to death a convenience store clerk who asked him to wear a mask.
- MAY 16, 2022TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERTS URGE TAIWAN TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY
An international panel of human rights experts on 13 May 2022 called on Taiwan to end the "cruel and degrading" practice of capital punishment.