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Ministry of Justice against caning and chemical castration

The Ministry of Justice voiced its opposition on Tuesday to a proposal to bring caning and chemical castration into the judicial system to punish sex offenders, saying that such measures violate human rights.

Ministry officials said there was no evidence to support the assertion that caning or chemical castration could prevent sex offenders from reoffending.

They said that at present, the ministry prefers to use electronic monitoring to control convicted rapists and will need some time to implement that measure before an assessment can be made on its effectiveness.

The ministry decided its stance after calling a meeting in late March to solicit views from academics and experts on using caning and chemical castration -- in addition to prison terms -- to punish serious sex offenders, the officials said.

Last month several Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators floated the proposal of amending the 1997 Sexual Assault Prevention Law (性侵害防治法) to allow the caning of convicted rapists after police arrested two men who allegedly abducted a medical school student from a motorbike parking lot near a Taipei MRT station on March 11, drove her to a riverbank park and raped her.

One of the suspects also allegedly robbed and raped a 64-year-old female taxi driver while he was hiding from police.

Although police cracked the case in five days, DPP legislators said many women were worried about their safety because the victim had been snatched from a city street.

At the time DPP Legislator Chang Ching-hui (張慶惠), citing statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, said the number of reported sexual assault cases had increased by 15 percent annually over the past few years.

Chang said Taiwan should emulate the state of Florida's "Jessica's Law" and introduce severe punishments for malicious or serial sex offenders.

"Jessica's Law" was passed in in 2005 after a young girl named Jessica Lunsford was raped and killed by a previously convicted sex offender. The law mandates at least 25-years of prison and lifetime electronic monitoring for convicted sexual predators.

Forty-two out of the 50 US states have introduced similar legislation since the passage of the Florida law.

Minister of Justice Morley Shih (施茂林) has previously said that the ministry would decide this month on whether the three-month assessment period for electronic monitoring of paroled rapists should be shortened to less than two weeks.

Last November the ministry approved a decree requiring paroled rapists to wear electronic devices to monitor their movements. However, the devices are to be used only after a three-month assessment period from the date of a rapist's parole.

Several lawmakers have questioned the delay, saying that it could put people at risk of falling prey to repeat offenders.
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