A proposed revision to Việt Nam’s Penal Code could significantly narrow the scope of capital punishment, actively removing the death penalty for 5 specific crimes while retaining it for four others.
The Latest: On June 26, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) published a dossier for the amended Penal Code to collect public feedback through July 16. Reversing course from an earlier draft that proposed eliminating eight capital offenses, the new submission proposes reducing the number of crimes subject to the death penalty from ten down to four.
The Details: According to pages 9 and 10, section 3.1 of the submission, the ministry proposes removing the death penalty from six offenses. However, an examination of the text reveals that the death penalty would only be entirely removed from five offenses:
- Rebellion (Article 112)
- Rape of a person (Article 142)
- Illegal trafficking of narcotics (Article 251)
- Crimes against humanity (Article 422)
- War crimes (Article 423)
The MPS also proposes “removing one offense punishable by death by merging terrorism aimed at opposing the people’s administration under Article 113 into terrorism under Article 299.”
The four remaining offenses subject to the death penalty would be:
- Treason (Article 107)
- Murder (Article 123)
- Terrorism (Article 299)
- Illegal production of narcotics (Article 248)
The ministry stated that these revisions are intended to “continue institutionalizing the [Communist] Party’s guiding view on studying ways to narrow the scope of the death penalty.”
Death Penalty Offenses: Currently, there are ten offenses in Việt Nam that carry the death penalty:
- Treason (Article 108)
- Rebellion (Article 112)
- Terrorism aimed at opposing the people’s administration (Article 113)
- Murder (Article 123)
- Rape of a person under 16 (Article 142)
- Illegal production of narcotics (Article 248)
- Illegal trafficking of narcotics (Article 251)
- Terrorism (Article 299)
- Crimes against humanity (Article 422)
- War crimes (Article 423)
The Background: In an earlier draft policy dossier, the ministry had proposed drastically reducing this list to just two offenses—murder (Article 123) and rape of a person under the age of 16 (Article 142)—with the stated goal of meeting international standards.
However, the Supreme People’s Procuracy opposed that proposal, requesting that Treason (Article 108), illegal production of narcotics (Article 248), and illegal trafficking of narcotics (Article 251) be added back.
- The ministry’s newly published proposal meets two of the procuracy’s three requests.
Why It Matters: On pages 49-50 of the policy impact assessment, the MPS said that the death penalty should be retained exclusively for “serious crimes” that infringe upon especially important protected interests and cause severe economic, social, and human security consequences.
- This shift reflects a deliberate effort to align with international trends and U.N. conventions.
The current legislative strategy is to selectively narrow the scope of capital punishment while replacing the death penalty in certain instances with life imprisonment without sentence reductions.
Thành Phương wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on July 6, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
