The Judicial Yuan on Saturday presented its position on a bill to allow citizens to participate in deciding criminal trials, listing 10 reasons against the implementation of a jury system.
In a document submitted to the Legislative Yuan ahead of a committee hearing scheduled for today, the Judicial Yuan said that it favors Japan’s system of citizen participation rather than a jury system.
Compared with jury systems in many Western countries, in which jurors give verdicts, but are not involved in sentencing, Japan randomly selects six people to be lay judges who sit alongside three court judges and help decide verdicts and sentences.
The Japanese system allows better communication and interaction between citizens and court judges, and negates “hung juries,” which can lengthen trials, the Judicial Yuan said.
Allowing citizens a role in sentencing also meets public expectations, it said.
Other reasons that it gave against a jury system were that a jury does not need to give reasons for a verdict, which contradicts the Constitution regarding people’s rights in the trial and appeals process.
The Judicial Yuan also cited the cost of forming a jury and said that allowing a jury to hand out verdicts might contradict Constitutional Court Interpretation No. 378, which defines what constitutes a court.
Nations such as Japan and France, which previously used a jury system, are shifting to the lay judge model, it said, while criticizing the jury system in the US.
Surveys conducted by the Taiwan Database for Empirical Legal Studies and National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center, as well as opinions collected through mock trials over the past few years, show that most people favor the lay judge model, it said.
Legislators at a committee hearing this month said that the proposal, which was presented by the Cabinet and the Judicial Yuan, would limit the participation of citizens in criminal trials to an estimated 600 cases per year.
The proposal says that citizen participation is limited to major felonies that carry prison sentences of 10 years or more, as well as cases involving death caused intentionally.
The estimate was made based on the number of such cases from 2015 to last year, the Judicial Yuan document said.
Given that it is a new system, the limit is appropriate, but is open for review and amendment, it said.
The draft was first presented to the legislature in April 2017 as part of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) planned reform of the judicial system, but lawmakers did not pass it before their term ended in January.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS