Judicial Yuan and Ministry of Justice officials on Wednesday hailed the opening of a center to electronically monitor people released on bail or who are restricted to a residence.
The Electronic Monitoring Center is an important milestone in the judiciary’s history, Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lin Hui-huang (林輝煌) said.
A July 17, 2019, amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) allowed courts and prosecutors to mandate defendants released on bail, placed in custody of others or those restricted to a residence to wear devices that would allow the judiciary to monitor their whereabouts.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
The devices include lighter and more battery-friendly GPS tracking anklets or bracelets, as well as cellphones with facial recognition, Lin said.
Judges and prosecutors can set levels of monitoring based on the likelihood of a defendant contravening their release restrictions, he said.
The devices allow courts and prosecutors to establish a zone that a person cannot leave or enter, and the device would issue warnings when that person approaches the zone, he added.
Center staff would monitor the device’s whereabouts and can alert the police to detain and bring back the person should they attempt to flee, Lin said.
The center’s establishment would enable the judiciary to prevent people wearing the devices from fleeing or becoming repeat offenders, Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said.
Since 2006, 1,500 people have been subject to electronic monitoring, and the 13 who have attempted to remove or sabotage the device and flee have all been apprehended, Tsai said.
This shows that electronic monitoring can reduce the human resources needed to monitor criminals, he added.
Chief High Prosecutor Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) said that the center is the first electronic monitoring center to use Taiwan-made devices.
However, Hsing said that courts and prosecutors should carefully consider whether monitoring a person is better than detaining them.
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