Constitutional Court Ruling on Capital Punishment Imposes Impossible Hurdles: Denounced as De Facto Abolition Triggering Public Outcry

On September 20, 2024 (113th Year of the Republic of China), the Constitutional Court delivered Judgment 113-Hsien-Pan-8 regarding petitions filed by 37 death row inmates. While technically upholding the constitutionality of capital punishment, the justices established an exceptionally stringent matrix of substantive and procedural conditions—restricting it exclusively to 'the most serious intentional homicides,' requiring unanimous agreement among all panel judges across all trial tiers, and prohibiting execution of mentally impaired convicts. Critics and victims' families lamented the demise of judicial justice, asserting that the DPP-aligned court effectively introduced back-door abolition, trampling over more than 80% of public opinion opposing the repeal of capital punishment.