During a question-and-answer session in the legislature, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the government was not considering an amnesty or granting pardons to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China (ROC), but it might consider commuting sentences. If there were commutations, only lighter crimes would be considered, he said. If this is one of the items on the list of next year’s celebrations, then next year will be a year of anxiety.
Since the ROC marked its 60th anniversary in 1971, commutations have been granted on five occasions. Next year would be the sixth time in 40 years, and the second in three years. This is far too frequent, and some criminals may even have benefited more than once.
Granting commutations is an easy way for the government to gain some goodwill, but by resorting to this trick at every celebration it is treating sentence commutation as yet another prop to brighten the atmosphere at every festivity. By building up expectations in this manner, some criminals or would-be criminals might even be encouraged to break the law since they could receive shorter sentences. That is not beneficial to social order.
Regardless of by how much a sentence is commuted, criminals benefit, while their victims will be hurt. In recent years, we have seen death sentences delayed, the passing of the Speedy Criminal Trials Act (刑事妥速審判法) — which is concerned with the rights of the accused — and the initiation of restorative justice, which focuses on reducing hatred among victims.
For victims of crime, this is just another form of torture and it raises the question of how appropriate it is to promote policies that prioritize the accused and repeatedly commute sentences.
Judges all too frequently hand down light sentences. If it is a lesser crime and the perpetrator shows remorse, the whole prosecution might even be deferred. If the case goes to trial, the sentence could be light or even deferred. After the prison sentence begins, good behavior can reduce the sentence further. Is it really necessary to add further commutation to all these shortcuts? Tri-annual sentence commutations would be a blow to legal stability and public trust in the legal system.
Any kind of crime has a deep impact on its victims. Theft, car accidents, injuries, rape and other such incidents can haunt the victim for the rest of his or her life. Are there any crimes for which a sentence reduction will be acceptable to victims?
Apparently, the government’s view of the rule of law does not imply that it should be concerned with protecting the general public, implementing judicial reform to reduce miscarriages of justice or guaranteeing that ex-convicts are not met with prejudice upon their release. Instead, its only concern is to find ways of pardoning criminals.
The view that any great celebration must be accompanied by sentence commutation makes it seem as if our legal system still depends on imperial benevolence. Is this commutation meant to embellish the celebrations or highlight the ROC’s accomplishments over the past 100 years?
Earthquakes, typhoons and floods can make life difficult. We urge the government not to add manmade disaster to the list through excessive reliance on sentence commutation. What Taiwan needs instead is clear, logical and just judicial reform.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should give the public clear assurances that the government will not offer any amnesties, pardons or sentence commutations next year.
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