Drunk drivers and other misdemeanor offenders may be less likely to face prison if a Ministry of Justice policy proposed yesterday is implemented.
Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) has approved the proposal, which would allow prosecutors to forgo indicting misdemeanor suspects in exchange for the suspects performing community service.
The initiative would not require the amendment of current law, and is part of the ministry's campaign over recent years to reduce the prison population.
"The virtues of the policy are that misdemeanor offenders may learn lessons and have opportunities for reflection, while not finding themselves in the dock," said Tsai Pi-yu (
The department proposed the policy at a meeting yesterday.
Tsai said that the proposal might undergo trials beginning later this year on a limited basis before a final decision is made on implementing the idea nationwide.
According to Article 253 of the Code of Criminal Procedure -- in cases of some specified misdemeanors that mostly carrying punishments of less than three years in prison -- prosecutors can choose to forgo indictments if they consider it appropriate to do so.
The new policy initiative is not intended to change the law, but to give prosecutors an option: requiring misdemeanor suspects to perform eight to 60 hours of community service -- if the suspects agree.
Officials said that although the current law grants prosecutors the right not to indict, the prosecutors too often choose to indict, which places a heavy burden on the criminal justice system.
"Prosecutors may think it is better to give suspects a small punishment rather than to just let them get away scot-free. But the price of this small punishment is high," Tsai said.
She said that after indictment, many offenders are sentenced to short prison terms or fined and that many who are fined fail to pay and eventually go to prison anyway.
Tsai said such short-term imprisonment of people who have committed misdemeanors wastes prison resources.
She cited the example of drunk driving to show how seriously its has contributed to prison over-crowding.
Drunk driving was written into the Criminal Code as an offense against public safety in 1999, carrying a sentence of imprisonment for less than one year or a fine of less than NT$30,000.
Tsai said that before 1999, the figures for indictments for offenses against public safety were only around 300 per year.
"But the figure soared to 1,189 last year, 93 percent of which were drunk driving cases," she said.
Tsai acknowledged, however, that a potential problem with the policy initiative would be whether there were sufficient resources for the supervision and management of the community service.
She said the idea was to commit the misdemeanor suspects to the supervision of organizations to carry out their community service.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2