Taiwan
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 1
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · In November 1997, the Parliament approved the death...
- News items in the archive
- 282
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Taiwan is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 1 the year before. The archive holds 282 news items on Taiwan, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
FEBRUARY 17, 2026TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: FEMALE DRIVER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING POLICE STATION CHIEF
A female motorist who fatally dragged the head of a police station to his death while trying to evade a roadside check in 2024 was sentenced to death by the New Taipei District Court on February 11, 2026.
- JANUARY 29, 2026TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: HIGH COURT OVERTURNS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MALAYSIAN STUDENT'S KILLER
The Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch on January 29, 2026 resentenced Liang Yu-chih to life imprisonment for the 2020 rape and murder of a Malaysian university student, overturning a previous death sentence after a court-ordered retrial.
JANUARY 14, 2026TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: DEATH SENTENCE UPHELD FOR MAN CONVICTED OF KILLING NEIGHBORS
The High Court's Kaohsiung branch on January 14, 2026 upheld the death sentence of a man convicted of fatally stabbing his upstairs neighbors for allegedly making excessive noise.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: LAY JUDGES SENTENCE MAN TO DEATH FOR MURDER
A man who was charged with the murder of his wife, mother-in-law, and stepson in New Taipei City last year was sentenced to death on September 16, 2025 by a court panel that included six citizen judges, the New Taipei District Court said.
AUGUST 27, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS REJECTION OF DEATH ROW INMATE RETRIAL REQUEST
Taiwan's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by death row inmate Cheng Yi-lung, confirming an earlier Taiwan High Court decision to deny his request for a retrial, CNA reported on August 27, 2025.
- MAY 26, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: CEC APPROVES NUCLEAR POWER REFERENDUM, REJECTS DEATH PENALTY VOTE
Taiwan's Central Election Commission (CEC) on May 23, 2025 approved one of two public referendum questions proposed by opposition lawmakers in the Legislature Yuan, but was harshly criticized by the opposition for rejecting the other proposal.
- APRIL 7, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS EXECUTED MURDERER'S APPEAL
The Constitutional Court on April 7, 2025 dismissed an appeal filed by double murderer Huang Lin-kai before his execution, stating it had no jurisdiction over the case.
- MARCH 16, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: KMT TO START CAMPAIGN ON REFERENDUM AGAINST END TO DEATH PENALTY
The major opposition Kuomintang (KMT) will launch a campaign to hold a referendum against the abolition of death penalty, KMT Chairman Eric Chu said on March 7, 2025.
MARCH 12, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: SUPREME PROSECUTORS OFFICE REVIEWS 36 DEATH ROW INMATE APPEALS
Taiwan’s Supreme Prosecutors Office is reviewing extraordinary appeal requests from 36 death row inmates following a Constitutional Court ruling last year.
- MARCH 10, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: KAOHSIUNG MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING NEIGHBORS
The Kaohsiung District Court on March 10, 2025 sentenced to death a man convicted of fatally stabbing a couple in an upstairs apartment that he believed frequently made too much noise.
FEBRUARY 22, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: MAN WHO KILLED STORE CLERK OVER MASK AVOIDS DEATH PENALTY AT RETRIAL
The Taiwan High Court on February 19, 2025 upheld a life sentence for a man who stabbed a convenience store clerk to death over being asked to wear a face mask.
FEBRUARY 3, 2025TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: DEATH PENALTY IN DOUBLE MURDER COMMUTED TO LIFE SENTENCE
The Taichung branch of the High Court on January 22, 2025 overturned Yang Hung-ju’s death penalty and sentenced him to life in prison for double homicide.
- 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 PENALTY
TAIWAN: 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.
- 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 PENALTY
TAIWAN: 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.