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Survey highlights credibility gaps in local legal system

Only 30 percent of Taiwanese have confidence in the nation's justice system, according to a poll published by a non-governmental organization yesterday.

The Judicial Reform Foundation conducted a poll last month asking lawyers and members of the public for their impressions of the courts' performance.

The results were released at a press conference yesterday.

Among 1,068 respondents, only 30 percent were satisfied with the courts' performance. However, 60 percent of 426 law-yers polled approved of the courts' performance.

Regarding the issue of judicial independence, 61 percent of respondents and 57 percent of lawyers believe that courts rule in favor of litigants who enjoy higher political or economic status, while 77 percent of lawyers think judges favor prosecutors.

The poll also found that almost 80 percent of lawyers feel that Taiwan's courts are unsafe because they fear that they might be abused, harmed, harassed or threatened by litigants or their associates.

Executive director of the Judicial Reform Foundation, Y.C. Kao (高湧誠), said that the poll for the first time made use of the US National Center for State Courts' Trial Court Performance Standards & Measurement System, and that the poll would be conducted annually.
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