LOWERED: The punishment for murdering a close relative is to be lowered to 15 years in prison because some defendants may have been subjected to abuse by their victim
Taipei Times
Date: Mar 09, 2018
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
The Cabinet yesterday approved a bill to abolish the statute of limitations for serious
Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san speaks at a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA
criminal offenses, with the current 30-year limit for crimes punishable by death or life sentence to be abolished.
A set of amendments to the Criminal Code have been approved to abolish the statute of limitations for crimes punishable by death, life imprisonment or a prison sentence of at least 10 years if any death is caused due to the crimes, the Ministry of Justice said.
Under the proposed amendments, investigations into at least two unsolved cases that occurred in 1996 — a mass shooting at the home of then-Taoyuan County commissioner Liu Pang-yu (劉邦友) and the murder of prominent women’s rights activist Peng Wan-ju (彭婉如) — would be able to continue indefinitely, Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said.
The punishment for murdering a close relative is to be lowered to a minimum 15 years in prison from the current minimum sentence of life imprisonment because some defendants had been found to have been subjected to abuse by their victims, often their parents, the ministry said. [FULL STORY]