The National Judge Act (國民法官法) as passed by the Legislature Yuan on Wednesday would allow career judges to dominate the process and have the final say in forming a ruling, Judicial Reform Foundation chairman Lin Yung-sung (林永頌) said yesterday.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) pushed the act through its third reading so that the nation could have lay judges for the prosecution of criminal cases, “but it was very unfair to exclude a jury system from consideration, as most of the public supports the idea,” Lin said.
Lay judges, termed “national judges,” are to take part in deliberations for crimes warranting a prison term of at least 10 years or premeditated crimes that resulted in death, the act states, adding that the collegiate bench is to consist of three career judges and six national judges, who are to be randomly chosen from Republic of China citizens aged 23 or older who have lived in the court’s jurisdiction for at least four months.
“Under this framework, with career and lay judges determining a verdict, people serving as national judges will become obedient and acquiesce to those in higher authority,” Lin said, citing the system in Japan, where surveys showed that 39 percent of lay judge respondents said that their decision was influenced by the career judges.
Asked why judicial reform groups like his are fighting for a jury trial system, Lin said: “It is because most people do not trust our judicial system and career judges — only about 30 percent of the public trust them, according to our surveys.”
In Taiwan, many people are demanding to participate in the deliberations and determination of the verdicts, up to about 70 to 80 percent of the public, Lin said, adding that jury trials are used in many countries, including in the US and Britain, where juries have been used for hundreds of years.
Survey results show that more than 80 percent of people support a “twin track” proposal, where jury and lay judge systems would be tried for a number of years before one would be adopted, Lin said.
“This has been the stance of the Judicial Reform Foundation, but, unfortunately, the DPP opposed it,” Lin added.
Yesterday, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that the legal framework contained in the act is the one best suited for Taiwan at this time, given the nation’s judicial system and social conditions, and the practical implementation of a lay judge system.
“Too much time had been spent debating the pros and cons of the lay judge system and the jury system,” she said. “I look forward for our citizens being involved as judges.”
“I promised judicial reform,” she said. “In the past, the judicial system did not allow people to participate in the process. In the case of serious crimes against society, people often questioned the verdicts and voiced their doubts, which diminished the public’s trust in the fairness of the system — this is what we have strived with much effort to change.”
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS