A Tainan Police Department Women and Children’s Squad officer responsible for handling sexual assault cases who has impaired vision following an eye operation reportedly mistakenly uploaded the names and personal details of 76 sex offenders to the department’s Web site.
One of her duties is to publish monthly figures for high-risk repeat sex offenders.
In response to the error, the department transferred her to other duties and charged her with disclosure of classified information.
The news has caught the public’s attention, within many media commentators supporting the officer’s actions, saying she has done a “great service” to the community.
Many even suggested that police should release the personal information of all convicted sex offenders.
The public are revolting against a legal system which they see as remote and out of touch with reality.
Seven years ago in Yunlin County’s Cihtong Township (新聞來源), a 14-year-old girl surnamed Yeh (葉) was raped and murdered near her home by convicted sex offender Lin Kuo-cheng (林國政), who had been released from prison on parole.
The case led to the creation of the White Rose movement, a group of people who came together to pressure the government to enact reforms over the handling of convicted sex offenders.
Campaigners believed the degree of public anger created by the case provided an opportunity to circumvent the concerns of human rights groups and push for the personal information of all high-risk repeat sex offenders to be made available to the public.
Activists called for Taiwan to enact its own version of the US’ Megan’s Law, which would require the government to publish the names, photographs and verdict summaries of all high-risk repeat sex offenders to avoid a repeat of tragedies like in Yeh’s case.
However, the movement failed to achieve its objectives.
Taiwan’s version of Megan’s Law became the Regulations on Registration, Reporting and Methods of Checking for Sexual Offenders (性侵害犯罪加害人登記報到及查閱辦法). The regulations state that after release from prison, sex offenders must report to police and register their updated personal information.
However, this information cannot be made available to the public. Instead, schools, including kindergartens, child social services and other relevant organizations can apply to check the register when hiring new full-time and part-time workers or volunteers.
Furthermore, Article 15 of the regulations states that the checks must not lead to the harassment of or criminal offenses being committed against convicted sex offenders.
For this reason, when police respond to a request by a member of the public to provide the whereabouts of a sex offender, they are only able to disclose the number of high-risk repeat sex offenders within a certain area; no further information may be provided.
Aside from spreading fear, what purpose does such a system serve? How can publishing numbers offer protection?
Megan’s Law was enacted in 1994 following the rape and murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka near her home in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, by a convicted child sex offender who lived on the same street.
Eighty-nine days after Kanka’s murder, New Jersey legislators enacted the state’s version of the law, which requires sexual offenders released from prison to register with a designated law enforcement agency and allows information on convicted sex offenders to be released when deemed necessary to public protection.
New Jersey law became the model for federal legislation enacted two years later.
However, the degree and frequency of control measures for sexual offenders differs from state to state. Each state classifies sex offenders in the same way and all states have a zero-tolerance policy toward high-risk child sex offenders.
For this reason, two months ago, a US$1.5 million reward was offered for the capture of a Taiwanese-US dual national surnamed Lu (盧), who has a history of child sex abuse in the US.
In the name of protecting the personal information of all convicted criminals in Taiwan, information on sex offenders is still withheld from the public.
The situation is becoming intolerable. Last month, two men allegedly used messaging app Line to intimidate about 100 elementary-school students into taking naked photographs of themselves and sexually assaulted and raped several of the girls.
The prosecution of the case by the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office and the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office attracted a great deal of media attention.
However, ludicrously, all news reports of the case carefully pixelated the faces of the two suspects and refrained from revealing even the slightest details of their identity.
It is troubling that, given Taiwan’s lax judicial system, the alleged pedophiles will probably be released back into society before long, after which they can melt into the background and may well continue to trick and intimidate other children and carry on their perverted crimes.
The Tainan officer’s mistake has reignited debate over who the judicial system is designed to protect — victim or perpetrator?
Will Taiwanese parents be able to sleep safe at night?
Sandy Yeh is secretary-general of the Asian Association of Police Studies.
Translated by Edward Jones
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