Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers on Friday last week proposed extending the maximum period criminal offenders with mental health issues can be held in psychiatric detention from five to 14 years in the wake of a controversial case.
DPP Legislator Chou Chun-mi (周春米) said that the proposed amendments to Article 87 of the Criminal Code would allow courts to add three three-year extensions to the current five years of “custodial protection” that can be ordered for criminal offenders found not guilty on the grounds of diminished mental capacity.
The proposed amendments came after the Chiayi District Court on April 30 found a man surnamed Cheng (鄭) not guilty in the fatal stabbing of 24-year-old railway police officer Lee Cheng-han (李承翰) on a train from Tainan to Taipei in July last year.
The court said that Cheng’s long history of schizophrenia negated his legal culpability, and ruled that he could be released on NT$500,000 bail and transferred to a secure facility to undergo psychiatric treatment for five years.
Prosecutors have appealed the decision.
Regarding the proposed changes, Chou said that the current five-year limit does not adequately guarantee against recidivism, adding that the option of extending the treatment period would increase the likelihood that a person could be successfully rehabilitated.
The extensions would not be unilaterally decided by courts, but would be based on annual psychiatric evaluations carried out by medical professionals, she said.
Aside from the changes to the Criminal Code, the lawmakers also aim to amend Article 301 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) to allow courts, when necessary, to commit defendants to mental health facilities before a verdict has been issued, Chou said.
DPP Legislator Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴), who also voiced support for the measures, said that the changes had to be part of a larger effort to strengthen the nation’s social safety net.
For example, the ratio of social workers to people in need of psychiatric counseling is 1 to 405, she said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare has set a goal of cutting that to 1 to 80.
DPP Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) suggested adding a requirement that at least two hospitals determine a suspect’s mental fitness in cases involving major crimes.
Hsu’s comments were likely a reaction to the Chiayi District Court’s reliance on a single expert witness’ psychiatric evaluation of Cheng to decide whether he could not be found guilty because of diminished mental capacity.
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