VIETNAM: MINISTRY OF JUSTICE CONSIDERS SCALING BACK DEATH PENALTY

May 13, 2014: Dan Viet newspaper quoted a ministry official as saying the Ministry of Justice was drafting amendments to the Penal Code which would reduce the number of crimes punishable by death.
“For certain crimes, the death penalty can be replaced by similarly strict measures like a life sentence or, like many experts have proposed, a life sentence without the possibility of parole,” said Tran Van Dung, head of the ministry’s criminal law branch.
“The amendments will be in line with a humane policy of the Party and Government and the global tendency toward scaling back capital punishment,” he said.
The amendments were scheduled to be submitted to the government in the fourth quarter of 2014 before being voted on by lawmakers.
The Vietnamese Penal Code now includes 22 crimes punishable by death. (Sources: thanhniennews.com, 13/05/2014)