The Judicial Yuan yesterday completed the first draft for a bill authorizing the public’s participation in criminal trials as so-called “citizen judges,” which received a mixed welcome from the nation’s legal professionals and judicial reform groups.
The bill, which contains 120 articles, establishes the rights and responsibilities of citizen judges on panels in criminal trials that would include professional judges.
Panels of three professional and six citizen judges would rule on criminal trials, ranging from offenses carrying a prison sentence of at least seven years to “homicide occurring in the intentional commission of a crime.”
Photo: Hsiang Cheng-chen, Taipei Times
The citizen judges would be selected at random, but they would have to be Republic of China citizens and at least 23 years old, among other qualifications.
People called to serve on the panels would receive a daily stipend and reimbursement for transportation and other expenses.
They would be forbidden from disclosing court information to the public until they have rendered a verdict or from asking for or receiving bribes in connection to their duties, or risk a prison term of less than 10 year.
The panels would require a two-thirds majority to render a guilty verdict. Should less than two-thirds agree on a guilty verdict, the panel would be required to either uphold the assumption of innocence or render a verdict in favor of the defendant.
Opening the halls of justice to the public would help educate people about the law and help the judicial system identify its shortcomings, one prosecutor said on condition of anonymity.
However, the random selection of citizen judges might result in the drafting of “rank amateurs,” a prosecutor said, adding that walking a panel through basic legal principles might add to prosecutors’ workloads.
Criminal trials could become more time-consuming, creating stress for defendants in pretrial detention and professional judges, the prosecutor said.
The bill should be seen as the Judicial Yuan’s response to the resolution of the National Congress on Judicial Reform, said lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), deputy director of legal reform group Taiwan Forever Association.
“The bill’s conception of citizen judges is more progressive than the current judicial system, in which power is monopolized by judges, but the proposal still has room for improvement,” Huang said.
The bill would create a system that is closer to the Japanese system of lay judges than the common law system of “trial by jury” in the UK or the US, he said.
A jury system maintains a separation of powers, with jurors determining issues of fact and a judge ruling on issues of law, which is dissimilar to the Judicial Yuan’s mixed panel of citizen and professional judges, he added.
The congress voted itself into a deadlock when it tried to choose between the two systems, Huang said.
Additional reporting by Chen Wei-han
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
Taiwan’s first African swine fever (ASF) case has been confirmed and would soon be reported to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) yesterday. The Ministry of Agriculture’s Veterinary Research Institute yesterday completed the analysis of samples collected on Tuesday from dead pigs at a hog farm in Taichung and found they were ASF-positive. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency Animal Quarantine Division chief Lin Nien-nung (林念農) said the result would be reported to the WOAH and Taiwan’s major trade partners would also be notified, adding that pork exports would be suspended. As of Friday, all samples
RSS