TAIWAN. LAWMAKERS OK NEW DEATH PENALTY RULES

Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed amendments to several laws, including one that give judges greater leeway in deciding whether to mete out death or life sentences to convicts engaged in serious currency counterfeiting and members of the troops who disobey orders on the front line and cause formidable negative military consequences.
The amendments were introduced by You Ching, a legislator-at-large of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who contended that the original provisions stipulating mandatory death sentences for such offences left no room for judges to use their discretion when passing sentences that take human lives.
He said judges should be given more flexibility to consider individual cases objectively in order to mete out reasonable penalties instead of just handing down death sentences.
One of the affected provisions was Article 3 of the Law on Punishment for Obstruction Against the National Currency, which says the death penalty should be given to those who counterfeit banknotes and cause serious disturbance to the nation's monetary system.
The other two amended provisions were Article 27 and Article 66 of the Criminal Law of the Armed Forces.
The original Article 27 stipulated that any member of the military who disobeys orders at the front line will be uniformly sentenced to death, while Article 66 said that a person who fabricates orders, announcements or reports during wartime, causing harm to the military, should also be punished by death. The amended versions of the provisions will allow judges to determine whether to mete out death penalties or just pass life sentences.