The capital punishment for eight specific crimes is proposed to be replaced with life imprisonment. — Photo unsplash.com

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Public Security has proposed removing the death penalty for eight crimes, according to a recent review of the draft amendment to the Penal Code.

The draft will be reviewed and approved by the National Assembly through an expedited process at its next session in October.

According to the review conducted by the MPS, after eight years of enforcement, the Penal Code has made significant contributions to social management, crime prevention and maintaining security and order in the interests of citizens and the State.

However, the country has witnessed significant changes in the past decade, which revealed shortcomings in the code, especially concerning issues related to the death penalty.

The current Penal Code has 18 crimes carrying the death penalty as the highest punishment. However, recent practice shows that some crimes, while posing danger and causing social harm, do not demonstrate the necessity to maintain capital punishment.

In recent years, courts rarely issue the death sentence for these crimes, including crimes aimed at overthrowing the people’s Government, destroying the material-technical foundations of the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam, producing and trading counterfeit medicines, embezzlement or bribery.

Regarding the scope of the punishment, the MPS review highlights situations where an individual suffers from a terminal illness, which is considered a death sentence in itself, but is still subject to detention combined with medical treatment while awaiting execution. Meanwhile, there is currently no regulation stating that the death penalty is inapplicable in such cases.

The current Penal Code also states that the statute of limitations for the death sentence is 20 years. Accordingly, once the time limit has passed, the convicted person does not have to serve the sentence.

However, there is a lack of explanation as to whether their sentence can be reduced to life imprisonment or a fixed-term sentence at this point. In addition, no procedure exists for the penalty change in this case.

Therefore, the proposed change is that capital punishment for eight specific crimes should be replaced with life imprisonment without the possibility of sentence reduction, which maintains the isolation of the offender from society.

The eight crimes in the proposal are: activities aimed at overthrowing the Government, destroying the material-technical foundations of the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam, producing and trading counterfeit medicines, transporting drugs, destroying peace and causing war of aggression, espionage, embezzlement and bribery.

The review also proposes adding a rule that allows the court to delay the execution for up to two years starting from the time of the sentence, which is expected to uphold humanitarian treatment.

Actual cases show that the execution of the death penalty takes at least 16 months when there is no request for a pardon, and 30 months if a pardon is requested.

During this two-year period, the convicted will have time to make restitution, such as returning 75 per cent of embezzled assets to reduce the sentence to life imprisonment. This period can also help reduce pressure on the president and agencies handling pardon petitions.

The proposal also specifies the change of sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment following the statute of limitations and the procedural regulations for this change. — VNS