The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed an amendment expanding “pre-emptive detention” to include suspects in the sexual exploitation of minors, the homicide of young children, fraud and drunk driving as stipulated in the Criminal Code, among other offenses.
The expansion of the grounds for pre-emptive detention — intended to prevent reoffending — followed a Judicial Yuan amendment, which consolidated proposals by lawmakers across the political spectrum.
The cross-party proposals for Article 101-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure shared a common focus on crimes related to images of children and youth sexual exploitation.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) said she initiated the amendment in response to the rising number of cases involving the reproduction, distribution and possession of sexually exploitative images of minors.
The version proposed by the Taiwan People’s Party highlighted the growing severity of fraud, in addition to the issues of child and youth sexual images and organized crime that the party said have worsened over the years.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) said in his version that expanding “pre-emptive detention” is necessary to safeguard potential victims and would facilitate the investigative process.
The expansion covers the homicide of children younger than seven, offenses involving abuse and obstruction of an adolescent’s well-being, and offenses involving sexual images, such as distributing sexual images for public viewing, producing fake sexual images, and aggravated crimes in the same category.
The expansion also covers fraud and drunk driving offenses punishable under the Criminal Code — cases referred for criminal prosecution — rather than those categorized as administrative breaches under the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例).
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS