The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said yesterday it has finalized a draft bill for a law on judges and prosecutors aimed at weeding out those who are unqualified.
In the wake of several alleged corruption cases involving Taiwan High Court judges as well as public demand for judicial reform over a string of light sentences given to child sex offenders, the DPP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucuses and the Judicial Yuan each are to propose their own versions of a judge and prosecutor bill for review in the upcoming legislative session, which is slated to convene on Friday next week.
The DPP caucus yesterday said it had submitted its draft to the legislature, adding that the draft adopted opinions gathered from the Judicial Reform Association, which has campaigned for a law on judges and prosecutors for many years. The establishment of evaluation and disciplinary systems are the two main points highlighted in its draft, the DPP caucus said.
In its version, the DPP also suggests establishing an independent “judge and prosecutor assessment group” under the Control Yuan, which would strengthen the Control Yuan’s authority to impeach judges and prosecutors.
To have an assessment system placed under the Judicial Yuan is likely to invite concerns that judges may cover up for one another, the caucus said.
The DPP caucus’ draft also recommends a “discipline committee” be established under the Judicial Yuan in charge of carrying out disciplinary actions.
The caucus proposes that when the “judge and prosecutor assessment group” decides to call for judges or prosecutors to be disciplined, the Control Yuan would impeach them and simultaneously forward the case to the “discipline committee” for further discipline.
The draft also proposes that the assessment group periodically conduct an evaluation of all judges and prosecutors.
The evaluation items would include their attitudes, whether or not they follow proper legal procedures and their moral integrity, the draft said, adding the result of the evaluation must then be publicized.
The assessment group could also launch special evaluations into cases they deem questionable, it added.
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