In one of the few questions the candidates asked each other that was issue-based, Hou openly expressed his opposition to abolishing capital punishment.
In its eight years of governance, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has only executed two death row inmates, which was tantamount to abolishing the death penalty, the former National Police Agency chief said.
He asked DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) to openly state their position on the issue.
Lai described capital punishment as a sensitive issue in any country, and that abolishing it required a high degree of public support.
Taiwan has written the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights into domestic law, and while they do not require abolishing the death penalty, they do call for extra discretion in deciding whether to carry out executions, Lai argued.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights does not mention the death penalty.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights says it "may be imposed only for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law" and can only be carried out "pursuant to a final judgment rendered by a competent court."
Referring to polls cited by Hou that show 80 percent support for the death penalty in Taiwan, Lai said he understood people's desire to retain the death penalty.
He also believed that full-fledged social policies could reduce the need for a strict criminal justice system, Lai said, but concluded that the need for the death penalty was an issue that required further discussion.
Ko, meanwhile, argued that the popular support in Taiwan for the death penalty stems from the practice being deeply ingrained in Chinese societies and cultures since the Han dynasty.
The former Taipei mayor compared Taiwanese backing for capital punishment to Americans' support for their right to possess guns, which has prevented the death penalty from being abolished despite attempts to do so.
He said that given the global trend away from enforcing the death penalty, the only compromise he could think of was that people who have been given a life sentence must not be paroled, as allowing people who have received a life sentence to be paroled is a "source of public criticism."
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