More than 82 percent of people in Taiwan believe a lay judge system set to be implemented at the start of next year will improve the nation’s justice system, a survey released last week by the Judicial Yuan showed.
The result reflects an increase in public confidence in the system since the National Judge Act (國民法官法), which provides the system’s legal basis, was passed by the Legislative Yuan in 2020, the survey conducted in June showed.
Similar surveys were also carried out in November 2020, and May and September last year.
Photo: CNA
The act stipulates that criminal cases warranting a prison term of at least 10 years or premeditated crimes that resulted in death are to be reviewed by a collegiate bench comprising three career judges and six citizen judges starting from Jan. 1 next year.
Asked if they agreed with the statement that the lay judge system would advance the nation’s judiciary, 82.2 percent of respondents said they did, up from 81.7 percent last year and 64 percent in 2020, the survey showed.
Meanwhile, 13.7 percent said they disagreed, while 4.1 percent were undecided or abstained.
The number of people who have heard of the policy also saw a marked increased, with 76.2 percent of respondents this year saying they had heard about it — an increase of 20 percentage points from the results in 2020, which showed 56 percent knew of the system.
On whether they would assist in the adjudication of cases under the lay judge system, 60.8 percent of respondents said that they would, down 2.7 percentage points from the number last year, suggesting that the public is still hesitant about participating in the system, despite having some degree of understanding of it.
Asked how many days they could set aside to take part in the review of a case under the system, 29.5 percent of respondents said “no more than three days,” 15.1 percent said they would be “willing to comply regardless of the time needed to review a case” and 11.8 percent said “six to seven days,” the survey showed.
Those who were “unwilling to participate” accounted for 11.6 percent, while 13 percent were unsure or abstained, it showed.
The survey was conducted among Republic of China citizens living in Taiwan or the outlying islands who were at least 23 years old and eligible to serve as lay judges.
It gathered 1,068 valid samples through telephone interviews, with a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Judicial Yuan spokesman Chang Yung-hung (張永宏) said the government had made efforts to inform the public about the lay judge system since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) promulgated the act in August 2020.
The Judicial Yuan said it would continue to raise public awareness about the system and make the necessary preparations before it takes effect next year to further boost the public’s confidence in the policy.
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