Print

Mail

wiki links

Feature: Measures to track sex offenders ineffective, critics say

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) last November implemented regulations requiring sexual assault parolees to wear radio frequency identification devices (RFID), which will help police track the offenders' movements.

The regulation has been the focus of criticism recently as several assault parolees not wearing such devices are suspected of having raped women or girls shortly after leaving prison.

A Kaohsiung man, Wang Hui-ming (王惠民), was caught on March 13 while sexually assaulting an elementary school girl at her school.

Wang had only been released 12 hours earlier from Kaohsiung Prison on parole.

Late last month Chiang Ke-hui (蔣克輝) was detained on suspicion of forcing an eight-year-old girl to accompany him to his apartment and sexually assaulting her.

Chiang was released in January by the Banciao District Court pending a case on charges of sexually assaulting three girls from elementary schools in Jhonghe (中和), Taipei County.

In another case, a Hualien man named Wei Yung-ching (魏永慶) is suspected of raping a six-year-old girl on Jan. 9 -- only a few days after being released on parole.

The regulation has been criticized as the three men were not required to wear RFID tags when they left the prison.

Director of the Department of Corrections at the Ministry of Justice Chang Ching-yun (張清雲) told a press conference last week that although 633 sexual offenders were currently on parole nationwide, authorities only considered 227 of them as threats to the community.

Only 21 parolees were required to wear RFID tags between Nov. 22 and March 20 and only 9 are currently wearing RFID tags, he said.

The RFID regulation is flawed and the ministry is seeking to review it, Chang said.

The regulation stipulates that the ministry, as well as the city or county government where a sexual offender lives must observe that person's behavior for three months before jointly deciding whether the parolee needs to wear an RFID tag, Chang said.

Chang said the ministry was proposing to shorten the three month period to two weeks, which would better prevent sexual offenders from repeating offences shortly after leaving prison.

The ministry has procured a total of 150 RFIDs, which are expensive, and the budget for further purchases is limited, Chang said.

He said the ministry also lacked the human resources necessary to monitor more sexual offenders.

Wang Lih-rong (王麗容), a professor of social work at National Taiwan University, criticized the ministry's measures as "lackluster."

She said while the ministry agreed to free serial sexual offenders, it was unable to monitor their behavior.

Women are not safe living in the neighborhoods of sexual offenders, she said.

Law professor Jeng Shann-yinn (鄭善印) of Kainan University said the ministry's measure would be more effective if the ministry cooperated with private security firms.

The ministry has said that individuals wearing the RFID tags are required to remain in their homes from 8pm to 7am.

If they leave their homes during those hours, a computer located in the ministry receives a signal and the ministry immediately informs the police and officers at local governments' Sexual Assault Prevention Centers to locate them.

Individuals are not required to wear the device for longer than six months.

In case of parole violations, the ministry said serious transgressions could result in a prolongation of the parole period or its cancelation.
This story has been viewed 2093 times.