Taiwan still carries a lot of baggage from its past one-party state days under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). One particularly large piece of that baggage has been the nation’s need for judicial reform. This need had been long evident, but it could only begin to be met after martial law was lifted in 1987.
Nonetheless, efforts to address this issue with appropriate legislation had long proven futile. Finally, however, in the latest legislative session, a bill called the Judges’ Act (法官法) was passed. What has spurred on this change? There have been several forces at work; one has certainly been and continues to be public awareness of the problem.
The tipping point seems to have been public awareness of abuses in two high-profile murder cases coming at the same time. The first case is one that had been around for a long time, that of the Hsichih Trio (a murder case with many twists and turns dating back to 1991). The second is the recent developments in the wrongful execution of Chiang Kuo-ching (江國慶) in 1997 for a rape and murder case involving a young girl in 1996.
In both cases, among the many flaws and discrepancies in the courts’ guilty verdicts has been that the confessions of all suspects involved were extracted through torture. In the Chiang case, however, an unforeseen break was that another person, Hsu Jung-chou (許榮洲), recently admitted to the crime. With this, the courts and the Judicial Yuan, which had trouble sweeping both cases under the rug at the same time, found a way out.
Recognizing and throwing out confessions that have been illegally achieved through torture and other means is one of the many issues addressed in the Judges’ Act, along with a system that will evaluate judges and remove incompetent ones.
What helped the legislation? Traditionally, Taiwan’s court system has had the unfortunate perception that one is guilty until proven innocent, even if confessions are achieved by torture. In the case of Chiang, it was easy for prosecutors and the courts to admit mistakes in the trial because they had another person, Hsu, who admitted to the murder. In the case of the Hsichih Trio, it is harder for the courts to admit errors and to let the three go because they do not have any guilty parties to replace the suspects with.
However, public awareness has been only half the battle. Steadily working for changes in the system has been the Judicial Reform Foundation, which has been tirelessly at work since 1995. Foundation director Lin Feng-jeng (林峰正) spelled out the issues in this way: Taiwan has a legal system similar to the continental legal system of Europe, and so career judges have had too much power and protection from the Constitution.
Coming out of a one-party state history, Taiwan’s system has been rife with corruption, the interference of politics in court cases — a natural result of a one-party state — and judges who lack the necessary experience and background for making critical judgements. The KMT--dominated Legislative Yuan has had little motivation to change the system because of the one-party state days, while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has lacked the power to change it.
In the past, one could qualify to be a judge simply by graduating from law school and passing an exam. The new legislation proposes that judges be qualified by a stricter examination system, as in Europe, and that they should preferably be chosen from experienced lawyers. The legislation also proposes the establishment of an independent commission to get rid of poorly performing judges, but here it breaks down from what the Judicial Reform Foundation recommended. The foundation had wanted civilians to also be appointed to the commission, but the current bill has maintained that only judges will pass judgment on their own.
Lin feels here that opposition from the Legislative Yuan in the past has been because too few legislators have actually been lawyers and therefore they do not realize the impact judges have on the court system.
The Judges’ Act has been passed, but the public cannot rest there. Next should be a “Prosecutors’ Act.” Taiwan also needs legislation to guard against abuses of power by prosecutors. For example, at present, prosecutors have too much leeway in applying the Rule of Procedures regarding what evidence can be allowed. Similarly, prosecutors can allow wire-tapping and command a search of a person’s home or office simply on their own discretion. In these areas, as well as pre-trial detention, too much is left up to the prosecutor.
These reforms and future efforts are matters of necessity. Taiwan’s democracy is young and the protection of individual rights is still a work in progress. As for the public, unless they are personally affected by a case, most citizens continue to remain unaware of the reforms needed in the courts.
Jerome Keating is a writer based in Taipei.
China badly misread Japan. It sought to intimidate Tokyo into silence on Taiwan. Instead, it has achieved the opposite by hardening Japanese resolve. By trying to bludgeon a major power like Japan into accepting its “red lines” — above all on Taiwan — China laid bare the raw coercive logic of compellence now driving its foreign policy toward Asian states. From the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China Seas to the Himalayan frontier, Beijing has increasingly relied on economic warfare, diplomatic intimidation and military pressure to bend neighbors to its will. Confident in its growing power, China appeared to believe
After more than three weeks since the Honduran elections took place, its National Electoral Council finally certified the new president of Honduras. During the campaign, the two leading contenders, Nasry Asfura and Salvador Nasralla, who according to the council were separated by 27,026 votes in the final tally, promised to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan if elected. Nasralla refused to accept the result and said that he would challenge all the irregularities in court. However, with formal recognition from the US and rapid acknowledgment from key regional governments, including Argentina and Panama, a reversal of the results appears institutionally and politically
In 2009, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) made a welcome move to offer in-house contracts to all outsourced employees. It was a step forward for labor relations and the enterprise facing long-standing issues around outsourcing. TSMC founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) once said: “Anything that goes against basic values and principles must be reformed regardless of the cost — on this, there can be no compromise.” The quote is a testament to a core belief of the company’s culture: Injustices must be faced head-on and set right. If TSMC can be clear on its convictions, then should the Ministry of Education
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) provided several reasons for military drills it conducted in five zones around Taiwan on Monday and yesterday. The first was as a warning to “Taiwanese independence forces” to cease and desist. This is a consistent line from the Chinese authorities. The second was that the drills were aimed at “deterrence” of outside military intervention. Monday’s announcement of the drills was the first time that Beijing has publicly used the second reason for conducting such drills. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership is clearly rattled by “external forces” apparently consolidating around an intention to intervene. The targets of
RSS