In January 2025, the execution of Huang Lin-kai reignited Taiwan's death penalty debate , with activists saying authorities acted in disregard of the law.  The execution, the island's first in five years, came just months after Taiwan's Constitutional Court issued a landmark ruling narrowing the scope of capital punishment and requiring stricter safeguards for its application.  At the time, some observers thought the ruling meant Taiwan was edging toward "de facto abolition" of the death