At the end of September 2018, The Rights Practice worked with Chinese partners to deliver a workshop in Taipei on an ‘Empirical Study of the Death Penalty.’

Participants included Chinese law students, academics and lawyers, all intending to publish research findings on the death penalty. The aim of the workshop was to enhance the capability of young scholars from multi-disciplinary backgrounds to research death penalty issues, to reduce its application and ensure fair trial safeguards.

They learnt from Taiwanese, as well as international, experts and discussed a range of issues including the global trend towards abolition, miscarriages of justice and forensic identification of mental disorders. The group also visited local NGOs to see first-hand the work going into ensuring fair trials and exonerating innocent death row inmates in Taiwan.

The participants all felt they had gained valuable skills for completing their research and found it useful to learn about the successes and challenges faced by legal scholars and NGOs in another jurisdiction in order to more effectively challenge China’s application of the death penalty.