Taiwan’s #MeToo movement continues to spread across the nation. A number of politicians, academics and entertainers have been accused of sexual harassment or assault. The judiciary should consider whether these alleged perpetrators have been wronged, but also their attitude deserves attention. Whether they have reflected on their behaviors should be examined. Some of those perpetrators would repeatedly harass or assault others. In that case, the victims would find it unbearable and those perpetrators should not be let off easily.
Some cases exposed during the #MeToo movement happened one or two decades ago. The statutory punishment for the crime of compulsory sexual intercourse is three to 10 years of imprisonment.
However, according to Article 80 of the Criminal Code, prosecution is barred by limitation if it is not exercised within a specific period, which is 20 years for an offense that carries the maximum principal punishment of imprisonment from three to 10 years. In other words, if a victim is sexually harassed or assaulted as a child who dares not to report the crime due to enormous psychological pressure, the perpetrator can avoid legal penalties as the statute of limitations expires.
A comparative law approach provides food for thought. Last month, Japan’s parliament passed a law on non-consensual sex as part of Penal Code reform. The law raises the statute of limitations for the prosecution of non-consensual intercourse from 10 to 15 years, and for the prosecution of non-consensual indecent acts from 7 to 12 years. If a victim is under 18 years old at the time of the assault, the statute of limitations would only commence when the victim reaches 18. In the German criminal code, the limitation period is stayed until the victim of sexual abuse reaches the age of 30. These two examples are worth emulating.
As the #MeToo movement continues, society learns that cases often involve digital violence. For instance, Chiu Yao-le (邱耀樂), known as Raku on YouTube, accused entertainer Aaron Yan (炎亞綸) of sexual assault and leaking a sex video.
In January, the Executive Yuan passed draft amendments to four laws regarding sexual violence crimes. The victims of online abuse are usually young females from the age of 18 to 25. Some traumatized victims have even committed suicide. The situation is indeed worse than one would guess. Legislators should promptly amend the laws to include crimes of sexual intrusion of privacy within the scope of mandatory treatment under the Criminal Code. Article 101 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) should also be referred to, so that the accused can be pre-emptively detained to stop the spread of victims’ photos and videos.
Any workspace operates according to a set of power relations and unwritten rules. Therefore, it is not easy to detect signs of sexual harassment or assault before the incident happens, nor is it possible to eradicate sexual abuse from the workplace once and for all. Taking into account the nature of sexual offenses, Taiwan should either stop using or consider extending the statute of limitations. Only when the perpetrators are penalized appropriately can the victims be at peace.
It is most regrettable that the victims have to undergo distress and hardship caused by sexual abuses.
However, victims could hopefully let it go as soon as possible and move forward to a much brighter future, and all the people involved can rid themselves of the vexed whirls and be reborn. Only in this manner can Taiwanese society be truly uplifted.
Chao Hsuey-wen is an assistant professor and holds a doctorate in law from Fu Jen Catholic University.
Translated by Emma Liu
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