New Power Party Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) has proposed amending the oft-criticized Crime Victim Protection Act (犯罪被害人保護法), which she has described as “very crude” and inferior to its Western counterparts, something she knows all too well from personal experience.
The act has mainly been used to regulate compensation for victims, not ensuring their rights are respected, and the government has not done enough to inform victims of the legal assistance available to them, Wang told a news conference on Friday last week.
The act, which was promulgated in 1998, seems to come under fire every time a serious crime occurs, such as the fatal stabbing of a railway police officer in July last year — whose father died a few days after his son’s attacker was acquitted on mental health grounds in May — and the murder of a scooter rider in March.
Civic campaigners in March 2016 raised many of the same criticisms, citing the government-sponsored Association for Victims Support’s “narrow focus” on monetary compensation, and calling for a one-stop legal and psychological support system where association members and other entities would work closely with the victims’ loved ones.
They continue to call for the same improvements.
Dealing with the aftermath of a crime is very traumatizing and confusing for the victim and their family members, and compensation is just the minimum that the government can do to help them get through the grueling process, which can include collecting evidence and testifying, navigating complicated legalese and in the worst cases — overseeing an autopsy.
Sensitivity is crucial during such times, which seems to be one of the major problems that politicians and advocates bring up.
However, even the process to receive compensation is convoluted, Wang said, adding that it is the government’s responsibility to help crime victims, but they are often made to feel as if they are being done a favor.
Wang, whose three-year-old daughter was beheaded in a random attack by a mentally disturbed man in Taipei in 2016, recalls being handed a huge stack of papers after the murder, and felt that the help she received came with little warmth or sympathy.
She said that while applying for compensation, she was asked: “Do you still feel sad?”
The association cannot bear all of the blame, as it only has about 60 full-time staff and 119 part-timers across the nation, who last year handled nearly 2,000 new cases, helped 73,394 individuals and still had to help with fundraising for the organization.
The association is supervised by the Ministry of Justice and its board is mostly composed of government personnel.
Wang says that support for victims should be expanded into a comprehensive network that facilitates cooperation and communication between various government departments, as well as the families of victims and civic organizations.
The act only covers people who are killed, seriously wounded or sexually assaulted. If it cannot provide enough help, its coverage definitely needs to be restructured and expanded to include more resources.
Wang is looking to overhaul the system, which seems to be long overdue.
It is time to take a comprehensive look at this issue, instead of waiting for another tragedy to happen to get more lawmakers and government officials interested in tackling the necessary reforms.
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