Taipei Times: How has judicial reform progressed over the past year?
Weng Yueh-sheng (
The achievement that I am talking about here is the dismissal of the Administrative Supreme Court, the Supreme Court and the Government Official Evaluation Committee and replacing them with three new departments under the Judicial Yuan. The replacement bodies will be the Civil Court, the Criminal Court and the Administrative and Evaluation Court.
It is our end goal to simplify the justice system and to adopt a pyramid system. This change will come into effect on Oct. 1. This is a big change.
TT: What is the purpose of these reforms?
Weng: The main purpose is to decrease the number of appealed cases and shorten the time it takes for judges to come up with a verdict and close a case.
In the future, courts hearing a case for the first time will possess a great deal of manpower and these judges will spend more time to clarify the facts before reaching a verdict. As a result, it will decrease the chances for appeal, since the quality of the verdicts will be better than they are now.
Obviously, our justice system does not satisfy people because I keep hearing complaints that many cases have been delayed for years, even for decades, and that our justice system needs to be fixed.
For instance, the Hsichih Trio murder case has been working its way through the justice system for the past 11 years but it has not been resolved.
Obviously, there are some big potholes in our judicial system. Because of these potholes, our judges have unfinished work to do, even though most of them are trying very hard to wrap up as many cases as possible. However, their hard work is not appreciated because of the long time it takes to process cases.
Unfortunately, not many people understand our justice system and how judges work. Most people hope that their cases can be closed within the shortest time. However, in addition to closing a case as soon as possible, the accuracy of the trial is the most important thing.
A trial is the last defense for protecting human rights. How can you allow negligence? How can you be careless about it? It will hurt people even more if the court does not care about accuracy, because mistakes will be made and innocent people may be implicated. It is important for the courts to close cases as soon as possible, but the accuracy of the trial is more important.
A judge's job is like playing God. For example, when a crime takes place, only the victim, the perpetrator and any witnesses know what happened. However, a judge has to decide whether the defendant is innocent or guilty. How can he not be careful, fair and accurate? And it is also why I have to emphasize the importance of the justice system being trusted by the people. If you do not trust somebody, you will not respect him either. However, a judge cannot do his job if he is not trusted and respected.
In the past, the justice system was only a tool used by dictators. By delivering strict punishments to criminals, the political leader took advantage of the system to secure his power. An accurate trial was not really required for a judicial system like that. But that is no longer what we need.
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