Minister of Justice Lo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) yesterday spoke out against a Web site called Sunshine Justice, demanding that the Judicial Reform Foundation take the site offline.
“The site published the private information of judges and prosecutors. It lacks a mechanism to filter and evaluate the information,” Lo said at a government-sponsored event.
“It will do more harm than good, and has already impinged upon the basic framework of judicial independence,” Lo said, speaking publicly on the issue for the first time since the foundation launched the Web site on Tuesday.
Screen grab from the Judicial Reform Foundation’s Web site
Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) also called for the Web site’s removal, citing violations of the Personal Information Protection Act (個人資料保護法).
A number of judges and prosecutors have also said they are considering taking legal steps against the foundation, alleging that the Web site contains erroneous information.
“Does our nation’s judiciary want to remain hidden, operating in the dark? Is the judicial system afraid of opening up for public scrutiny?” foundation officials asked.
The foundation officials said that all material on the Web site was gathered from open sources and published media reports, and that there had been no violation of personal privacy.
Calling for transparency “to lift the veil of secrecy,” foundation executives on Tuesday announced the launch of Sunshine Justice (http://sunshine.jrf.org.tw), which presents basic profiles and a case record database of nearly 3,000 judges and prosecutors. Basic profile information includes an individual’s name, gender, law school, training period, court case history, mentions in the media, instances of misconduct and discipline or recognition received.
At the site’s launch, foundation chairman Lin Yung-sung (林永頌) and other lawyers urged the public to learn about the judges and prosecutors, saying that after exposing the information to the light of day for everyone to see, reform can be effected to the judicial system.
Depicting judges and prosecutors as manga characters and the proceedings of cases in a comic-book format, the Web site gives the public an approachable, friendly gateway into the realm of the judiciary, and the men and women deliberating cases in court, they said.
“Judges and prosecutors wield tremendous power over our nation’s public. However, they are in the habit of working behind closed doors, hidden away from public scrutiny,” Lin said.
“The Ministry of Justice Web site also made it difficult for people to find information on judges and prosecutors, which makes it much more difficult to scrutinize the system and find out who is unsuited to continue their work,” he added.
When people walk into a courtroom, they wonder about the track record and past conduct of the presiding judge and prosecutors, but such information is not readily available, Lin said.
“That information is widely scattered in court records, documents and Web sites. Most people do not know about these sources, and are unable to access the information,” Lin added.
Sunshine Justice is the result of several months of hard work by foundation staff to search and compile all available data, Lin said, adding that they received assistance from g0v.tw, an online community advocating for information transparency and the development of an information platform and tools for citizens to participate in social issues.
“The reality is, this information could have been made available to the public much sooner, with the work being carried out by the ministry and the Judicial Yuan. The burden of undertaking this endeavor should not have fallen on the public sector,” Lin said.
According to a statement by the Web site, its aim is to establish an open platform to systematically gather and organize information, allowing the public to know who they are facing in the judiciary.
This information is being put out “under the sun for everyone to see, so judges and prosecutors doing a good job can receive support, while those who are ineffective or demonstrate improper conduct should receive public scrutiny and have pressure brought to bear on them,” the statement said.
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