RSVP appears at the bottom of most formal invitations in the west. It stands for the French phrase "repondez s'il vous plait" or in simple English, please reply to the invitation. This lesson in good manners has come to mind due to a couple of incidents recently. One of them was the headline (Aug. 12, page 1) "Lo Fu-chu makes court appearance."
The fact that an esteemed independent lawmaker like Lo would deign to grace the criminal courts with his presence certainly is front-page news. As a lawmaker he is above, by law, being inconvenienced by a court summons.
The second event was the triumphal return of Yen Ching-piao (
All sarcasm aside, these two events reflect a fundamental problem with law enforcement and prosecution here in Taiwan: the fact that warrants seem to be either non-existent or rarely used and or rarely enforced. When I first arrived here, fresh from my position as a California prosecutor, I was stunned at the disregard local criminals showed towards prosecutor's and court summonses. The American expression, "to thumb your nose at it" best describes the typical reaction of criminal suspects to a court summons.
If the court has no authority to compel attendance then the court has no authority. Likewise if the prosecutor's office has such "porous" security that hoods are notified in advance of raids then the prosecutors office is crippled in its fight against crime.
I am not saying that the legislator's privilege against court summons while the legislature is in session is bad law. What I am saying is that the legislature is not always in session and when it is out of session hoodlum congressmen, of which there are many, seem to retain their immunity from summons and arrest. It has never been explained clearly to me why that is.
It becomes a vicious Catch 22. A legislator-hood can be immune from arrest while the legislature is in session. When it is out of session the legislator-hood goes back to his home district and commits further crimes such as extortion, bribery and vote-buying which then, in turn, grant him another term in the legislature and further immunity. It is a cycle this nation needs to break.
Prosecutor's offices suffer a similar set of problems. Attendance at a prosecutors questioning session seems largely voluntary. If the suspect is disinclined to accept the invitation then that is that. If, in lieu of inviting the suspect "in" for questioning, the prosecutors decide to go visit him, the suspect usually receives advance notice in time to plan a trip off the island. That too is a situation this nation needs to remedy.
Because I value good manners in crime fighting, I will now give a sample set of invitations and replies. Here is the proper form of invitation for a court or questioning session: The District Court of X respectfully requests your presence at a trial held in your honor commencing August 12, 2000. Please RSVP
The proper reply: Dear Court/Prosecutor, It is an honor to receive your invitation but due to business commitments on the mainland I will be unable to attend. Please accept my humble and heartfelt apologies. Signed Mr. Hood and or legislator.
As Emily Post taught; manners matter.
Brian Kennedy is an attorney who writes and teaches on criminal justice and human rights issues.
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