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
- APRIL 10, 2022TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAN CONVICTED OF KILLING GIRLFRIEND, TWIN SONS
Taiwan High Court’s Taichung Branch upheld on 29 March 2022 the death sentence for a man who killed his girlfriend and their two sons in November 2019.
MARCH 28, 2022TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 2020 RAPE, MURDER OF MALAYSIAN STUDENT
A 30-year-old man was convicted on 18 March 2022 of raping and killing a Malaysian university student in 2020, and he was sentenced to death by the Taiwan Ciaotou District Court.
FEBRUARY 24, 2022TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: HUASHAN MURDERER ESCAPES DEATH PENALTY AFTER SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS LIFE SENTENCE
The legal drama of a man found guilty of raping, killing, and dismembering a woman on the lawn behind Taipei's Huashan 1914 Creative Park in 2018 has finally come to an end, following the Taiwan Supreme Court's decision to uphold a lower court’s life sent
- NOVEMBER 14, 2021TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: HIGH COURT COMMUTES MOTHER'S DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDERING CHILDREN TO LIFE IN PRISON
Taiwan High Court on 11 November 2021 issued a ruling resentencing a woman facing the death penalty to life in prison for the murders of her two children, citing the perpetrator's depression and remorse.
MAY 26, 2021TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SCOOTER STABBING
A Taiwanese court on 26 May 2021 sentenced a man to death for killing a scooter driver in a random knife attack.
- APRIL 24, 2021TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN UNCHANGED ON EVENTUAL GOAL OF ABOLISHING DEATH PENALTY: MINISTER OF JUSTICE
Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang said on 21 April 2021 that Taiwan remains on track to abolish capital punishment despite an execution and five death sentences last year.
- APRIL 15, 2021TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR ARSONIST WHO CAUSED NINE DEATHS
The Taiwan High Court on 14 April 2021 upheld the death penalty handed down to Li Kuo-hui, an ethnic Chinese from Myanmar, for starting a fire in an apartment building in Zhonghe, New Taipei in November 2017 that resulted in the deaths of nine people.
DECEMBER 10, 2020TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: GOVERNMENT SHOULD CORRECT PROCEDURAL ISSUES WITH DEATH PENALTY, NHRC SAYS
Taiwan's government should correct the numerous procedural problems in the way the death penalty is carried out, Taiwan's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on 10 December 2020, Human Rights Day.
DECEMBER 1, 2020TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: NEW TAIPEI WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING HER TWO CHILDREN
A woman who killed her young son and daughter before attempting suicide earlier this year was sentenced to death by the New Taipei District Court on 25 November 2020, for a crime described by the court as "extremely cruel and cold-blooded."
JULY 19, 2020TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: NEW EXECUTION GUIDELINES SLAMMED BY RIGHTS GROUPS
Taiwan has released new procedures for carrying out capital punishment -- including preventing the condemned from seeing their executioner -- but rights activists said on 16 July 2020 the move merely whitewashes a barbaric practice.
JULY 14, 2020TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: NEW LAW REQUIRES PRISONERS BEING EXECUTED TO WEAR HOOD
Death row inmates will soon be required to wear a hood when they are being executed to make the job of the executioner less traumatic, according to new rules announced by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) that will take effect on 15 July 2020.
JUNE 24, 2020TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: MURDERER ESCAPES DEATH SENTENCE IN SECOND TRIAL
A man who raped and killed a female model in Taipei's Nangang District in 2017 avoided a death sentence in a second trial that concluded on 23 June 2020.