A judge at the Taipei District Court, Lin Hsiao-cheng (
We believe that these accusations and dissatisfactions must come from the judges who are dedicated to their work. Those who attended the "Pineapple Banquet (
To get credit without the necessity of doing too much hard work, police officers and investigators pass inadequately prepared or fabricated materials on to prosecutors, and launch high-profile crackdowns on organized crime, prostitution and thugs in the run-up to holidays. The prosecutors in turn pass most of these cases over to the courts. As a result, the number of cases snowballs, and a real disaster begins when these cases are finally brought before a judge.
As senior judges usually serve in the high courts or above, it is normally inexperienced judges who deal with cases in the court of first instance. The inexperience of the judge is compounded by the "unclear" nature of the evidence so that it is extremely unlikely that the case will settled.
It is even worse if the litigants further accuse each other of libel.
If a case cannot be finalized in the first trial, it will go on to a second and third trial. It takes around six months to a year to go through all these trials. How can one get to the bottom of an incident after such a long time?
It is hardly surprising that judges work themselves to death working out numerous complicated cases based on woefully inadequate information and poorly prepared evidence. Often, they have to start working out the case from scratch. Judges who do not want to work themselves into the ground have no choice but to hand out crude verdicts and occasionally take time out to nap when sitting on the bench. Generally speaking, judges who are serious about their work can only fend for themselves.
Who should be responsible for the death of Judge Lin? Police officers and investigators investigate cases carelessly, passing them onto prosecutors who dish out indictments with their eyes closed, then sending them on to judges who are too busy socializing to carry their weight on the bench. All these are accomplices, in addition to the judicial system itself, which is far from comprehensive.
When judges must sacrifice their lives for their work it is probably time for judicial reform. Judges should be encouraged to take leave and judicial procedures should be rationalized. In addition, improving the quality of police officers and investigators, making investigations more thorough and removing unsuitable judges are also essential if the intolerable burden on judges is to be lifted.
The judges who advocate judicial reform are not trying to give themselves an easier job, they are striving for better judicial quality. They do not want to reduce the attention that they can give each case just because of the heavy workload. They hope a better system might help fulfill the people's expectations of justice from the judicial system. Only when most judges reach a consensus can judicial reform move forward.
Sue Wang is the chief executive of the Judicial Reform Foundation.
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