Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) has said that people who break their 14-day mandatory home confinement due to the COVID-19 outbreak should be treated like fugitives.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has called for electronic tracking bracelets for people placed under home isolation or quarantine.
These suggestions might have merit; the question is whether they are legal.
Currently, anyone who breaches the conditions of a mandatory home isolation or quarantine order can be fined between NT$60,000 (US$1,969) and NT$300,000 or NT$10,000 and NT$150,000, depending on the nature of the offense.
The government has also unveiled a special bill addressing COVID-19 prevention that includes a maximum fine of NT$1 million for anyone who breaks quarantine.
However, it should be understood that isolation and quarantine orders are administrative rather than legal orders.
As such, it is debatable whether law enforcement agencies are obliged under the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) to publish a wanted notice on their Web sites and in the media, as would be the norm in a standard fugitive case, to enlist the help of the public.
It is also debatable whether the code gives police and prosecutors the authority to arrest offenders if they are tracked down.
This leads to the question of whether behavior by a person who breaks the terms of an isolation or quarantine order should be criminalized by the government, and if so, should such a violation result in criminal prosecution, irrespective of whether the person infected others with the virus?
As for the use of electronic tracking devices, the legal grounds for their use was first introduced following an amendment to the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act (性侵害防治法) in 2005, which granted the authorities the power to track paroled sexual offenders.
Article 20, Paragraph 3, states: “The guardian who bears the responsibility of protection and supervision of the offender ... may report to the prosecutor or military prosecutor for permission to conduct electronic monitoring.”
Item four in the first clause of Article 116-2 of the code, which was amended in July last year, states that the court, if it grants suspension of detention, may order the defendant to “accept appropriate monitoring by technical equipment.”
This also applies when a prosecutor does not apply to a court for an arrest warrant or a judge decides not to detain a defendant to prevent the person from absconding.
In Taiwan, either a wrist or ankle bracelet fitted with a GPS transmitter is used to monitor convicted criminals 24 hours a day, in all weather conditions.
Therefore, if a sexual offender were to leave their home in contravention of the conditions of a home order, or if they removed the tracking device, law enforcement officers would be immediately alerted and could arrest the person.
Thanks to technological advancements, it is now possible to fit an alcohol concentration sensor or chemical detection chip to monitoring devices for repeat drunk driving offenders and drug users.
Such devices are already in use in the US and Canada, and they allow parole officers to determine whether convicted criminals are adhering to the conditions of their parole.
If the same concept of electronic monitoring were applied to people under mandatory home isolation or quarantine, in addition to a tracking bracelet, they could be compelled to wear a smart watch to continuously monitor their body temperature, as well as their whererabouts and physical condition, around the clock.
Aside from informing authorities when people break their isolation or quarantine order, tracking bracelets allow authorities to ascertain what places people have visited, which could facilitate the implementation of emergency prevention and control measures if needed.
The problem is that a person under isolation or quarantine is not a criminal offender and the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) provides no legal authority for tracking devices. The authorities cannot exceed the limits of the law.
As to whether the law should be amended to allow for high-level surveillance of suspected carriers of infectious diseases, the debate is likely to be bogged down in an argument over the difficult issue of how to balance effective epidemic prevention and a person’s human rights.
Wu Ching-chin is an associate professor of law at Aletheia University
Translated by Edward Jones
With escalating US-China competition and mutual distrust, the trend of supply chain “friend shoring” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fragmentation of the world into rival geopolitical blocs, many analysts and policymakers worry the world is retreating into a new cold war — a world of trade bifurcation, protectionism and deglobalization. The world is in a new cold war, said Robin Niblett, former director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. Niblett said he sees the US and China slowly reaching a modus vivendi, but it might take time. The two great powers appear to be “reversing carefully
As China steps up a campaign to diplomatically isolate and squeeze Taiwan, it has become more imperative than ever that Taipei play a greater role internationally with the support of the democratic world. To help safeguard its autonomous status, Taiwan needs to go beyond bolstering its defenses with weapons like anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. With the help of its international backers, it must also expand its diplomatic footprint globally. But are Taiwan’s foreign friends willing to translate their rhetoric into action by helping Taipei carve out more international space for itself? Beating back China’s effort to turn Taiwan into an international pariah
Taiwan is facing multiple economic challenges due to internal and external pressures. Internal challenges include energy transition, upgrading industries, a declining birthrate and an aging population. External challenges are technology competition between the US and China, international supply chain restructuring and global economic uncertainty. All of these issues complicate Taiwan’s economic situation. Taiwan’s reliance on fossil fuel imports not only threatens the stability of energy supply, but also goes against the global trend of carbon reduction. The government should continue to promote renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, as well as energy storage technology, to diversify energy supply. It
Typhoon Krathon made landfall in southwestern Taiwan last week, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and flooding, cutting power to more than 170,000 homes and water supply to more than 400,000 homes, and leading to more than 600 injuries and four deaths. Due to the typhoon, schools and offices across the nation were ordered to close for two to four days, stirring up familiar controversies over whether local governments’ decisions to call typhoon days were appropriate. The typhoon’s center made landfall in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港) at noon on Thursday, but it weakened into a tropical depression early on Friday, and its structure
RSS