Last September a multiple rapist who has been dubbed the "Hwakang Wolf" (華崗之狼) was barred from enrolling as a freshman at National Taiwan University following a public outcry.
Almost a year later, the government is trying to establish a system that will publicize the identities of sex offenders, even though human-rights activists oppose the idea.
New polls indicate that the public and most academics support the idea of making public the identities of those who have been convicted of sex crimes.
Human-rights activists, however, warn that implementing the idea wouldn't be better than keeping the offenders in jail.
In the Sexual Harassment Prevention Council's latest study, released last week, more than 80 percent of the respondents supported the idea of making the offenders' identities public.
The figure is based on a Central Police University survey of 1,100 respondents.
"Most of the respondents believe that Taiwan has poor public security and some 70 percent said that authorities should enforce stricter regulations. This group even thinks that the offenders should wear `sex offender' labels on their clothes," said professor Frank Huang (
But Huang warned that the government shouldn't adopt such measures before looking at other potential changes.
Authorities are now building a database on sex offenders as part of the 1996 Anti-Sexual Harassment Law. The law states that the media cannot publish the identities -- and any clues to the identities -- of sex offenders.
However, the government has no policy for handling convicted sex offenders once they are released from prison.
"We should set up certain measures to monitor these sex offenders, but making their identities public is no solution," said Lin Feng-jeng (
Women's rights groups, however, said that sex offenders frequently commit more crimes after they are released.
"Notifying the communities in which these former offenders live is very important, especially as most of the offenders often repeat their crimes," said Chi Hui-jung (
The women's rights groups' proposal is taken from the US' "Megan's Law" -- legislation that is named after a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was raped and murdered in 1994 by a paroled sex offender who had moved into her neighborhood.
The legislation provides for public notification of the identities and whereabouts of convicted sex offenders after their release from prison.
Lin Tzu-ling (林慈玲), secretary-general of the Sexual Harassment Council under the Ministry of the Interior, said that the council is attempting to establish a new system to monitor sex offenders after they are released from jail.
The question of whether to publicize their names and how to do so are still being discussed. Lin said the council would try to balance society's interests and human-rights concerns.
"In some countries that practice the notification system, some sex offenders' houses were burned down on their way from jail to their homes," Lin said.
The council plans to submit a proposed amendment to related legislation during the Legislative Yuan's next session.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS