Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) yesterday said the ministry for the most part supported enacting legislation that would make information about convicted child molesters public.
Asked for comment by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) in the legislature, Tseng said the ministry had established a task force to deliberate over the proposed legislation.
COMPREHENSIVE LAW
The minister said that while officials were inclined to support the idea of publicizing personal information about individuals convicted of sexual offences against minors, a comprehensive law to regulate the matter should also be implemented, Tseng said.
Sun raised the question after civic groups launched a signature bid in northern, central and southern parts of the country on Saturday demanding that the government pursue a law similar to Megan’s Law in the US.
Megan’s Law requires law enforcement authorities to make data on convicted molesters available, including their names, pictures, addresses and nature of their crimes.
The campaign, titled “White Rose Movement,” followed public uproar over recent acquittals and light sentences given to individuals accused of molesting children after judges ruled that it could not be proven that the victims had objected to the actions of the defendants.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office on Sept. 25 calling for incompetent judges to be dismissed.
Sun yesterday called on the Executive Yuan to “take the lead” by pushing through the legislation.
‘SICK’
“Child molesters are different from murderers. The majority of child molesters are sick,” Sun said.
“Such legislation would help deter them from repeating the offense and help parents to be aware of potential dangers. The US can pass this type of act and so can Taiwan,” Sun said.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the government’s views tended to differ from that of activists.
“I completely understand the good intention of the activists to reduce the number of sexual offenses against children, but we still need to consider the appropriateness of the proposed legislation,” he said.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Celebrations marking Double Ten National Day are to begin in Taipei today before culminating in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on the night of Thursday next week. To start the celebrations, a concert is to be held at the Taipei Dome at 4pm today, featuring a lineup of award-winning singers, including Jody Chiang (江蕙), Samingad (紀曉君) and Huang Fei (黃妃), Taipei tourism bureau official Chueh Yu-ling (闕玉玲) told a news conference yesterday. School choirs, including the Pqwasan na Taoshan Choir and Hngzyang na Matui & Nahuy Children’s Choir, and the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra, flag presentation unit and choirs,
RSS