The National Police Agency (NPA) has sent the Executive Yuan draft legislation seeking to raise the penalties for stalking and harassment, and give police the power to intervene faster after a complaint has been filed.
A surge in violent assaults by stalkers in the past few years has shown that new legal tools are needed to confront the problem, NPA officials said Saturday.
Many of the perpetrators are former boyfriends or girlfriends who stalk and harass former lovers who terminated the relationship or people who were not interested in them, the officials said.
At present, the law, including the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (家庭暴力防治法), cannot adequately protect the victims of such crimes, for unless there is actual physical assault by the stalker or bodily contact, they can escape with just a light fine, the officials added.
One such case was a male student at Shih Hsin University in Taipei, surnamed Chen (陳), who had had a crush on a female student surnamed Shih (石) ever since she was a first-year high school student and had stalked her for years, they said.
Although Shih in early November 2017 had reported his behavior to a police station in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) and asked police to stop him, Chen attacked her in a university hallway on Dec. 11, 2017, slashing her neck and shoulder with a small fruit knife. Shih was not seriously injured.
Another case cited by the NPA officials was that of a Changhua County senior-high school student surnamed Wu (吳), who attacked a student at another high school with a knife because she had rejected him when they were in junior-high school together.
The victim in that case also survived, but not everyone has been so lucky, the officials said.
Under the proposed legislation, a suspect could be investigated for stalking, making threats, physical or verbal harassment, and if the evidence supports the allegations, they could be punished for contravening the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法), the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法) or the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法).
If the offender commits a similar violation within a year of repeated harassment, uttering threats, forcible confinement, assault or other actions deemed to cause the victim fear and affects their normal life, then they would be deemed to have committed the crime of “stalking and harassment” under the proposed bill.
The bill would permit police to intervene in cases where the victim’s well-being or life appears to be under threat by directly visiting the alleged perpetrator to warn them, or in cases of an emergency, they could take action to secure potential evidence, check identities and search background records.
If the proposal becomes law, police officers would be authorized to apply for restraining orders from a court, while a victim who has filed a judicial complaint, and is faced with continued stalking and harassment while their case is under investigation or within two years of a convicted offender serving their sentence, can apply directly for a restraining order.
Restraining orders could prohibit harassment, body contact, stalking, personal communications, conversing on telephones or digital devices, as well as bar the disseminating or disclosure of personal information or images, or the use of demeaning and discriminatory remarks, under the proposal.
The bill would also bar stalkers from being near “the workplace, and specific sites frequented by the victim” and forbid them from acting in a way that would violate the victim’s personal safety.
The draft calls for a maximum prison sentence of three years and a maximum fine of NT$300,000 — with an additional punishment of 1.5 times the initial term if an offender has violated a restraining order.
It also proposes authorizing the court, prosecutors or the police to place a suspect or offender under mandatory medical or psychiatric treatment, based on the offender’s mental or physical conditions.
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
RSS