A domestic violence incident became a homicide in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城) on Monday last week, when a 46-year-old man, surnamed Hsieh (謝), allegedly rammed his car into his 42-year-old wife and her 33-year-old younger sister, both surnamed Chang (張), before allegedly stabbing them to death.
The wife had already applied for a restraining order against her husband in May, and police apprehended him over the weekend for violating it. However, the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office granted Hsieh bail on Sunday, and with 24 hours of his release, the shocking tragedy unfolded.
Restraining orders are effective in deterring abuse in about 80 percent of domestic violence cases, experts said. Only a small number of offenders — typically those with criminal records, mental health issues or highly controlling tendencies — challenge such legal restrictions.
Experts urged people not to dismiss the importance of retraining orders due to last week’s isolated incident, as doing so might prevent more people from seeking help. That warning must be taken seriously.
As for the less common, high-risk cases, is the system adequately prepared?
People who defy the terms of their restraining orders are not unaware of the restrictions — they just do not fear the consequences.
When such incidents occur, are the existing mechanisms for judicial intervention and crisis prevention truly prepared to handle them?
Restraining orders are important protective tools that carry a legal and deterrent effect. They prohibit perpetrators from committing acts of violence or harassment, and might also require them to keep a certain distance away from the person who filed the request or vacate a shared residence.
For law-abiding people, restraining orders draw a clear legal red line. To those intent on committing violence, they do little to stop premeditated acts of revenge.
The prevention and handling of domestic violence cases cannot rely solely on restraining orders or the efforts of frontline personnel.
In last week’s case, the offender was arrested by police and sent to the prosecutors’ office — all according to standard procedure.
However, that Hsieh was released highlights a lack of sensitivity within the law enforcement system toward the severity of domestic violence cases.
While police and social workers do their utmost on the front lines, the judiciary must shoulder the responsibility of being the final line of defense.
When dealing with perpetrators who contravene restraining orders or have a history of violence, prosecutors should exercise heightened vigilance and consider precautionary measures such as detention, bail or supervision. Courts must also impose deterrent penalties. If the judiciary fails to respond quickly and effectively, victims are left exposed to the risk of further harm.
Ken is the pen name of a domestic violence social worker.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
The conflict in the Middle East has been disrupting financial markets, raising concerns about rising inflationary pressures and global economic growth. One market that some investors are particularly worried about has not been heavily covered in the news: the private credit market. Even before the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, global capital markets had faced growing structural pressure — the deteriorating funding conditions in the private credit market. The private credit market is where companies borrow funds directly from nonbank financial institutions such as asset management companies, insurance companies and private lending platforms. Its popularity has risen since
The Donald Trump administration’s approach to China broadly, and to cross-Strait relations in particular, remains a conundrum. The 2025 US National Security Strategy prioritized the defense of Taiwan in a way that surprised some observers of the Trump administration: “Deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority.” Two months later, Taiwan went entirely unmentioned in the US National Defense Strategy, as did military overmatch vis-a-vis China, giving renewed cause for concern. How to interpret these varying statements remains an open question. In both documents, the Indo-Pacific is listed as a second priority behind homeland defense and
Every analyst watching Iran’s succession crisis is asking who would replace supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Yet, the real question is whether China has learned enough from the Persian Gulf to survive a war over Taiwan. Beijing purchases roughly 90 percent of Iran’s exported crude — some 1.61 million barrels per day last year — and holds a US$400 billion, 25-year cooperation agreement binding it to Tehran’s stability. However, this is not simply the story of a patron protecting an investment. China has spent years engineering a sanctions-evasion architecture that was never really about Iran — it was about Taiwan. The
In an op-ed published in Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said that Taiwan should not have to choose between aligning with Beijing or Washington, and advocated for cooperation with Beijing under the so-called “1992 consensus” as a form of “strategic ambiguity.” However, Cheng has either misunderstood the geopolitical reality and chosen appeasement, or is trying to fool an international audience with her doublespeak; nonetheless, it risks sending the wrong message to Taiwan’s democratic allies and partners. Cheng stressed that “Taiwan does not have to choose,” as while Beijing and Washington compete, Taiwan is strongest when
RSS