Lawmakers yesterday passed the third reading of amendments to the Juvenile Justice Act (少年事件處理法), which would bolster protections for young people detained by police or facing judicial procedures.
The amendments would bolster protections for young people from confinement and handcuffing, and help prevent injuries and self-harm while investigations are being conducted, lawmakers said.
The act defines protections for people aged 12 to 18, who are typically processed by the juvenile system if they are charged, but judicial experts and reform advocates have said that the current system can infringe on their rights.
The proposed amendments include provisions to guarantee a youth suspect the presence of a parent, legal guardian and lawyer when being questioned or making statements, which must be preceded by a written notice.
The changes would ban police and judicial officials from using confinement devices, including handcuffs and shackles, on youth suspects, except in serious cases or when flight is a strong possibility.
Separately, legislators approved the third reading of amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), to deal with abuse of judicial resources.
To expedite trials and facilitate justice for people affected by crime, the judicial resources amendments would bar cases from being appealed to the Supreme Court when appellate courts have upheld earlier decisions in cases of violence in causing bodily harm or death, and possession of more than 20g of category 1 or 2 narcotics.
Under separate amendments approved by the legislature on Tuesday, people found guilty of vandalizing or hacking into critical infrastructure would face a sentence of up to seven years and a NT$10 million (US$325,034) fine.
The infrastructure amendments, which the Cabinet passed to the legislature in April, apply to public transportation systems, postal services, hospitals and financial institutions, as well as telecommunications, nuclear and space facilities and utilities.
The increased punishments are a response to a spate of incidents, including two undersea communications cables linking Taiwan and Lienchiang County being severed in February, the Cabinet said.
In addition, electricity cables at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport were allegedly cut by construction workers in March last year, leading to a power outage affecting the airport’s Terminal 2, it said.
Cabinet spokesman Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) said that the new rules were part of an effort to “deter illegal activities” aimed at compromising the country’s critical infrastructure.
The Cabinet would work with government agencies to bolster law enforcement to protect critical facilities, Lin said.
Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers said that the amendments would provide law enforcement agencies with “consistent” legal tools to better protect critical infrastructure in Taiwan, as current laws were too lenient on illegal activities.
Under existing laws, the maximum punishment for severing undersea cables is a prison term of less than two years, the lawmakers said.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
BACK TO WINTER: A strong continental cold air mass would move south on Tuesday next week, bringing colder temperatures to northern and central Taiwan A tropical depression east of the Philippines could soon be upgraded to be the first tropical storm of this year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the next cold air mass is forecast to arrive on Monday next week. CWA forecaster Cheng Jie-ren (鄭傑仁) said the first tropical depression of this year is over waters east of the Philippines, about 1,867km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), and could strengthen into Tropical Storm Nokaen by early today. The system is moving slowly from northwest to north, and is expected to remain east of the Philippines with little chance of affecting Taiwan,
RSS