The Judicial Yuan’s draft amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) and the Implementation Rules of the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法施行法) were approved yesterday by the Executive Yuan.
The proposed amendments, under which 107 articles would be added or amended, are part of the government’s judicial reform efforts.
The main purpose of the proposed amendments is to improve overall trial efficiency, said Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who presided over the Cabinet meeting.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
Su said that he asked the Ministry of Justice to communicate and coordinate with the Judicial Yuan and the legislature to ensure passage of the proposals.
The requirements for filing appeals for second and third trials are relatively loose, which is why there are many appeals and the current system has been described as a “cylindrical” structure, Minister Without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said.
During the National Conference on Judicial Reform in 2017, officials decided to amend the two bills to reduce the number of appeals and turn the criminal procedure system into a “pyramid” structure, he said.
With “speedy trials for obvious cases and careful judgement of unsolved cases” as its core belief, the Judicial Yuan wants to expand the number of cases that require defendants to have defense attorneys, as well as divide cases into two categories, officials said.
The Judicial Yuan has said it has five major objectives with the criminal law proposals.
They are: To adopt a division in criminal procedure in which “obvious cases” and “unsolved cases” are separated; to improve the ability of the first trial to judge the facts of a case; to have the second trial be both a review of a case and a continuation of the first trial; to have the third trial strictly address questions of law and cases that were permitted an appeal; and to strengthen the protection of the defendant’s right to the assistance of counsel, the officials said.
The Judicial Yuan, the ministry and attorney organizations took part in multiple meetings convened by Lo to review and advise on the proposals, they said.
The Executive Yuan generally supports and respects the reform idea behind the proposals, but advised a careful and stable path to reform, the officials said.
Under the current judicial framework, amendments should be made to address the issues that are encountered in practice to protect the people’s rights as well as maintain the criminal procedure structure, they said.
The Executive Yuan asked the Judicial Yuan to carefully consider whether to make drastic amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure to restrict the range of appeal under the current law, they said.
After evaluating the protection of the litigants’ right to a lawsuit and the systemic function of the second and third trials, the Executive Yuan would provide the legislature and the Judicial Yuan with counterproposals and suggestions, the officials said.
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS