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.
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