United Microelectronics Corp founder Robert Tsao (曹興誠) yesterday called for “emergency bypass surgery” on the justice system by enhancing the role of police investigators to help prosecutors clear a backlog of cases.
Joined by legal experts and lawmakers at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, Tsao said that inefficiencies and outdated protocols had left the justice system in “paralysis.”
Comparing it to a coronary incident, he said it had clogged blood vessels and was headed for a heart attack.
Photo: CNA
“We must perform an emergency bypass surgery right now,” he said.
Police should be responsible for investigating petty crimes, before transferring them to prosecutors to “share the work burden and spur on cooperation,” while preventing the two sides from wasting time doing the same job, he said.
“It would also more reasonably and equitably divide our precious judicial resources, leading to improved efficiency for criminal investigations,” Tsao said.
In March, he launched the Taiwan Civil Liberties Union to advocate for judicial reforms, including expediting the legal process.
The intent of the Criminal Speedy Trial Act (刑事妥速審判法), which went into effect in 2019, is to prevent prosecutors from appealing a first ruling without good reason or sufficient new evidence, he said.
The current system allows prosecutors to file an appeal without due cause, which has resulted in delays and inefficiencies, leading to cases clogging up the courts, he said, adding that it also further harms the reputations of people who are later found not guilty in criminal matters.
“A justice system in paralysis cannot uphold justice for citizens,” Tsao said.
Taiwanese expect the Judicial Yuan and Executive Yuan to reform the legal system, “but the real battle is in the Legislative Yuan, for legislators to propose and approve amendments that improve the law and are in line with advances in society,” he said.
“In the past under one-party authoritarian rule, Taiwanese could only hope for a benevolent leader to grant them favors, to foster change. Now we are a democracy where the sovereignty and power are held by the citizens, so we should take up that responsibility to demand change, and unify our efforts to push for judicial reform,” he said.
Last year, prosecutors filed about 160,000 cases with charges that would carry minimum prison sentences of five years or less, Taiwan Jury Association director Chen Wei-shyang (陳為祥) said.
That made up about 65 percent of the total number of indicted suspects, many for petty crimes and not severe offenses, Chen said.
The police should have handled the investigating and evidence-gathering for these cases, he said.
“Public prosecutors had 750,000 cases last year, while we have fewer than 800 prosecutors. Each one has to address about 937 cases each year. They are overburdened and cannot do a thorough job for most cases,” he said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said that civil groups and judicial reform advocates recommend that police investigators handle defamation, public insult, theft and other petty cases.
As police officers have close contact with local communities, they are more likely to fairly and reasonably investigate such matters, and then prosecutors can review the cases to determine whether to pursue indictments, Tsai said.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS