DETERRENT?Asked to comment on calls for the death penalty to be retained in the wake of a girl’s slaying, Ma said that the issue has always been contentious

Taipei Times
Date:  May 31, 2015
By: Lii Wen and Shih Hsiu-chuan  /  Staff reporters

The national debate on the abolition of death penalty received renewed attention on the heels of the death of an eight-year-old girl after her throat was slashed open by an attacker at her elemanetary school on Friday.

The gruesome nature of the crime sparked public outrage and prompted questions about the efficacy of the nation’s justice system at deterring crime.

Angry netizens flooded the Facebook page of Social Democratic Party legislative candidate Miao Po-ya (苗博雅), a well-known human rights campaigner who headed the legal affairs division at the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty.

Commenting on Friday’s attack, Miao said that the death penalty fails to address the underlying reasons behind acts of murder committed against strangers.     [FULL  STORY]