Four Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday vowed to propose an amendment that would impose tougher penalties on people who produce, sell or possess sexually explicit photographs or videos of minors.
DPP legislators Lin Yueh-chin (林月琴), Fan Yun (范雲), Jean Kuo (郭昱晴) and Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) spoke about the changes to the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例) they intend to propose at a news conference in Taipei, after entertainer Mickey Huang (黃子佼) was found to be in possession of seven explicit videos featuring a minor.
Huang was granted deferred prosecution for two years and ordered to pay a fine of NT$1.2 million (US$37,386) and write a letter of repentance.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Lin said that the justice system can only invoke Article 39 of the act to address cases like Huang’s, but the fines stated in the act are generally too lenient to deter offenders.
She would discuss her proposed amendment with officials at the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Communications Commission, as well as with civic groups, before proposing a bill that would include heavier punishments for people who produce, sell or possess explicit photographs and videos of minors, Lin said.
People who have explicit photographs and videos of minors face criminal punishment after amendments to the Criminal Code, Crime Victim Rights Protection Act (犯罪被害人保護法), Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act (性侵害犯罪防治法) and Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例) were passed last year, Fan said.
“Apparently, the penalties are not heavy enough to deter offenders, which is what laws should do,” she said.
People buying explicit photographs and videos of children and teenagers should not only face heavier fines, but should also be treated as perpetrators of sex crimes, Fan said.
Kuo said that the criminal punishment for people who produce, sell or possess sexual images of minors should be stipulated by referencing Article 277 of the Criminal Code, which covers punishments for those who have caused injuries to others.
“An industry that profits from producing, selling and buying sexual images of minors should be deterred and eliminated by strengthening the punishments for the offenses,” Kuo said.
Separately, DPP Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) said that she would propose amendments to the Criminal Code and Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act that would impose heavier punishments on people who download or secretly take pictures or make videos of children or teenagers.
Offenders would be ordered to undergo psychological treatment, Huang said, adding that the funds that flow to criminal groups that profit from producing or selling explicit images of minors should be cut off.
As Mickey Huang was said to have accessed the images through a special Web site, the Ministry of Digital Affairs yesterday said that it could activate its domain name service response policy zones (DNS RPZ) to stop people accessing content on the Web site if the Ministry of Health and Welfare issues an administrative order to do so.
The domain name of the Web site accessed by Huang was first blocked by the Taipei District Court in December 2021 and the DNS RPZ function was activated as well to protect people from seeing harmful content. However, the site administrators continued to operate by switching to a different domain.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS