the Legislative Yuan ratified an overhaul of the Criminal Code that will gradually phase out the death penalty

the Legislative Yuan ratified an overhaul of the Criminal Code that will gradually phase out the death penalty but met out other more severe punishments for criminals. 
The lawmakers passed the third and final reading of revisions to as many as 62 articles -- accounting for two-thirds of the total number of articles -- in the Criminal Code and raised the threshold of parole for inmates serving life sentences.
While the maximum term for sentences is currently 20 years, the revisions stipulate that convicted suspects will be punished for each separate criminal act they commit with the sentence ceiling for two or more counts raised to 30 years.
The current regulations only add 50 percent to imprisonment terms when convicts commit more than two criminal activities.
The inmates serving life sentences must spend at least 25 years in jail before they could be eligible for parole, up from the current minimum of 15 years.
Those already sentenced to five years for committing serious crimes will be liable for sentences of more than five years and will be stripped of parole if they commit another crime in or out of prison.
The revisions to the Criminal Code were aimed at using stricter imprisonment measures to eventually replace capital punishment.
People receiving death sentences can only get a life sentence when they merit for punishment reduction. This is different from the current rules that may reduce the capital punishment to either life sentence or imprisonment terms between 30 and 40 years.
Under the new revisions, people under the age of 18 or over 80 will be exempted from death penalty even if they kill family members of direct lineage.
The Criminal Code was promulgated in 1935. The current revision is the biggest one in seven decades. The revised Criminal Code will go into effect July 1, 2006 following a buffer period of one and a half years. The new rules will not be applied to cases tried by the court before that time.