The New Power Party (NPP) would seek to reform the nation’s parole system by pushing for amendments to the Criminal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) and Prison Act (監獄行刑法), the party told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Whether a prisoner may be released on parole is determined by the Ministry of Justice, which has the authority to approve prisoners’ parole applications, NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said.
“Imagine a criminal who has finally been sentenced to prison after a lengthy process of investigation and trials, and then [waits for] the ministry to decide whether they need to serve only half of their sentence,” he said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“The system is flawed, because theoretically only the judiciary has the authority, to determine the scope and level of punishment meted out to criminals — not the administrative branches,” Huang added.
Giving the ministry such power has caused many problems and there have been numerous instances of criminals being granted parole by taking advantage of a lack of supervision in the application process, he said.
“The administrative branches must no longer be allowed to remain unsupervised and unchecked. This is why the party has proposed reforming the parole system by amending the Criminal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Prison Act,” Huang said.
Instead of allowing prisons to apply to the ministry for parole on behalf of prisoners, prosecutors should apply to courts, which would then decide whether to grant parole, he said.
“This was the shared opinion of experts at a public hearing I held at the legislature on the parole system,” Huang added.
In addition, the party plans to propose amending the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) and Labor Inspection Act (勞動檢查法), NPP caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said.
Article 80-1 of the Labor Standards Act stipulates that the government must publish the names of companies that violate the act, as well as the business owners’ names, he said.
“The party believes that the article should be amended to include the provisions that were violated, the date of the ruling and the punishment meted out, such as fines,” he said, adding that the information should not be hidden.
Under the Labor Inspection Act, company union representatives must be present during labor inspections, but most companies do not have their own unions, Hsu said, adding that only 6.4 percent of Taiwanese are members of such unions.
The party proposed amending the definition of union in the act to include industry and vocational unions, he said.
Although the legislative session is to end soon, the party hopes to work with other legislators to promote reform in the two areas, Hsu said.
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