From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Capital punishment in Vietnam

none

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Vietnam for a variety of crimes.

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative gives Vietnam a score of 5 out of 10 on the right to freedom from the death penalty, based on responses from human rights experts in the country as of 2024. These experts have also identified that certain groups, such as migrants or immigrants, people with low social or economic status, and refugees or asylum seekers are particularly at risk of having their right to freedom from the death penalty violated. In 2021, these experts additionally identified "politicians or government employees, particularly those who are convicted on corruption charges" and "detainees or prisoners, especially those from low socioeconomic backgrounds and who have low education levels", as being especially vulnerable to death penalty executions.

Characteristics

Thirteen articles in the Penal Code allow capital punishment as an option. Sentences of death are executed by lethal injection. The drugs used to execute prisoners are produced domestically. The first execution conducted by lethal injection was of Nguyen Anh Tuan, convicted of murdering gas station employee Bui Thi Nguyet on 06 08 2013.

In November 2015, a revision of the Penal Code was passed that severely curtailed the application of death penalty. Under the new regulations, which took effect on 01 07 2016, capital punishment was abolished for seven crimes: surrendering to the enemy, opposing order, destruction of projects of national security importance, robbery, drug possession, drug appropriation, and the production and trade of fake food. In addition, those 75 or older are exempt, and officials convicted of corruption charges can be spared if they pay back at least 75 % of the proceeds they illicitly obtained.

Capital punishment cannot be applied to juvenile offenders, pregnant women, and women nursing children under 36 months old at the time the crime was committed or being tried. These cases can only receive a maximum of life imprisonment in case of conviction.

Between 06 08 2013, and 30 06 2016, Vietnam executed 429 people. 1 134 people were sentenced to death between 07 2011 and 06 2016. The number of individuals on death row is not known.

On 27 05 2025, The National Assembly of Vietnam began deliberations on a government proposal to abolish capital punishment for some offences, including drug trafficking and some national security crimes, and replace them with life imprisonment.

On 25 06 2025, the death penalty was abolished for embezzlement, vandalising state property, manufacturing fake medicine, jeopardising peace, triggering invasive wars, espionage, and drug trafficking. It was still retained for ten offences, including murder, child rape, treason, and terrorism.

Crimes carrying capital punishment in Vietnam

According to the Penal Code, the following chapters contain the relevant articles that apply to capital punishment.

Chapters	Articles
XIII - Crimes of Infringing Upon National Security	108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114
XIV - Crimes of Infringing Upon Human Life, Health, Dignity, and Honour	123, 142
XV - Crimes of Infringing Upon Citizens' Democratic Freedoms	None
XVI - Crimes of Infringing Upon Ownership Rights	None
XVII - Crimes of Infringing Upon the Marriage and Family Regimes	None
XVIII - Crimes of Infringing Upon the Economic Management Order	None
XIX - Environment-related Crimes	None
XX - Narcotics-related Crimes	248
XXI - Crimes of Infringement Upon Public Safety, Public Order	299
XXII - Crimes of Infringing Upon Administrative Management Order	None
XXIII - Crimes Relating to Position	None
XXIV - Crimes of Infringing Upon Judicial Activities	None
XXV - Crimes of Infringing Upon the Duties and Responsibilities of Army Personnel	None
XXVI - Crimes of Undermining Peace, Against Humanity and War Crimes	421, 422, 423

References

Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13

Sources

capitalpunishmentuk

References

"Human Rights Measurement Initiative – The first global initiative to track the human rights performance of countries".
"Vietnam".
"Vietnam".
(23 September 2011). "Firing squad replaced by lethal injection". Viet Nam News.
(November 2016). "No: 53/2010/QH12 - Execution of criminal judgments". Misistry of Justice.
"First death row inmate executed by lethal injection".
(27 November 2015). "Vietnam passes law abolishing death penalty for 7 crimes".
"Criminal Code (No. 100/2015/QH13)". Ministry of Justice.
Hutt, David. (April 20, 2017). "Beware Vietnam's Death Machine".
(2025-05-27). "National Assembly debates proposal to end death penalty for transport of illegal drugs".
(25 June 2025). "Vietnam to remove death penalty for embezzlement, anti-state crimes". [[The Straits Times]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

capital-punishment-by-country murder-in-vietnam law-of-vietnam human-rights-abuses-in-vietnam

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Capital punishment in Vietnam — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report