Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) yesterday said that the ministry would try to recruit more prosecutors and assistant prosecutors this year.
PFP lawmaker Chen Chin-hsin (陳進興) complained to Chen Ding-nan that prosecutors are not working hard enough and spend too much time on cases.
"According to my statistics, 5,735 bribery-related cases remain unsolved -- some of these cases were opened in 1997," Chen Chin-hsin said. "This is a serious obstacle to the Ministry of Justice's (法務部) attempts to crack down on corruption."
Chen Ding-nan explained that Taiwan simply does not have enough prosecutors to manage the heavy workload. The minister said his ministry will try to recruit as many prosecutors and assistant prosecutors as possible.
"In the US, the total number of prosecutors is usually about three to six times more than the total number of judges at the same court. In Singapore, it's about two to three times. In Japan, the ratio is 2.4 times. However, in Taiwan, it's about one to one. That's the biggest problem we have."
The ministry's Human Re-sources Department said plans are afoot to hire more prosecutors and assistant prosecutors this year. However, the final number of vacancies hasn't yet been decided on.
"Last year, 137 people passed the Judicial Official Exam to became prosecutors and assistant prosecutors," said Wu Chi-an (吳基安), the director of the department. "This year we are planning to double that number in order to meet the heavier workload of the prosecution."
The Judicial Official Exam is held in the fall of each year by the Examination Yuan (考試院). Those who pass the exam will get the chance to become judges, prose-cutors or assistant prosecutors -- depending on their grades. The exam includes a writing test and an interview.
Aspiring prosecutors will have to finish a two-year training course before they can begin to enforce the law. Aspiring assistant prosecutors will have to finish a nine-month training course before they can work with prosecutors.
An assistant prosecutor is responsible for sharing a prosecutor's work and has the power to act as a type of judicial policeman. Assistant prosecutors always act under the supervision of their prosecutors.
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