Gang-raping justice
Dear Johnny,
Well, the Hsichih Trio are up for execution again because the Taiwanese court system seems to fail to understand what "beyond reasonable doubt" means.
Added to this is the report that murder victim Yeh Ying-lan (葉盈蘭) was supposedly gang-raped. Where are the DNA samples and the profiles? Were they ever collected? Or have they been carefully "lost"?
In either case, the prosecution should lose. DNA profiling was working fine in 1993; I know because I was acting as a scientific consultant on murder trials in South Africa. The mixture of DNA might have caused problems in 1993, but not now.
So a question for you: Why don't we hear of DNA profiling helping to free the innocent in Taiwan as in other countries? Bad lawyers, bad police work or just a system that still tends to convict because "the police must have the right man" and "evidence against a guilty person is always true"?
Professor Ralph Kirby MA PhD LLB (that's just to show that I think I know what I'm talking about)
National Yang-Ming University
Johnny replies: The reason DNA profiling is not used to protect innocent people from conviction in Taiwan is apparently because all of the available equipment is being used to settle custody disputes over pet dogs (see my column on Jan. 13).
And besides, celebrity forensics expert Henry Lee (
Three comments, Professor Kirby. The first is that, as I'm sure you're aware, cases that go to trial here have an extraordinarily high conviction rate. So high in fact that you would need all the evidence on your side and divine assistance to be found not guilty.
The second is that judges play a much more interventionist role in court, sometimes effectively doubling as prosecutors (mmm, smells mustily like the Martial Law era, no?).
The third is that after the latest Hsichih Trio death sentence was imposed, the judge walked away from the court sporting what looked like a baseball cap.
Need I say more?
Live Earth: China toadies?
Dear Johnny,
I was reading the Web site for Live Earth and I decided to sign the pledge. I was almost ready to make the commitment when I had to choose the country where I live. Then I saw that Taiwan was called "Taiwan, province of China."
This made me decide not to sign. I do agree with Live Earth, but they should get their facts straight about Taiwan. Instead, I sent them an e-mail asking them to change Taiwan's name. I hope that more people can tell Live Earth that they should correct their mistake, and when they do we could sign the pledge.
Micha van den Berg
Johnny replies: They must have responded, Micha, because I couldn't find "Taiwan, province of China" anywhere on the Web site.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry