The Legislative Yuan on Friday night passed the third reading of amendments to the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), raising the maximum jail term to seven years for those who pay to watch sexually explicit images involving minors.
Under the amendments, passed at about 11pm on Friday night, those who pay to watch sexually explicit images or videos of minors would no longer be allowed to avoid jail time by paying a fine, and instead would be subject to prison terms ranging from one to seven years, and could concurrently be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,712).
Prior to the revisions, the act only imposed either a jail term of up to one year or a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000, while those convicted of filming or producing sexual images or videos of minors, or creating drawings, audio recordings or any other sexually explicit content of a minor could receive a jail sentence of one to seven years, and be concurrently fined up to NT$1 million.
Photo: CNA
The amendments stipulate that people caught in possession of sexual images of a minor without any legitimate reason would face imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of NT$60,000 to NT$600,000.
Under the revisions, those who download or copy sexual images of minors without any legitimate reason can be fined NT$100,000 to NT$1 million, in addition to receiving a jail term of up to seven years.
The heavier penalties follow public outcry after television presenter Mickey Huang (黃子佼) avoided prosecution for possession of sexually explicit videos involving minors by paying a fine. He was in April given two years of deferred indictment.
The deferred indictment led to calls to revise the law to better protect minors from sexual exploitation.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Huang in May after the High Prosecutors’ Office found deficiencies in its initial probe and returned the case for further investigation.
The legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee on April 29 and May 1 reviewed the amendments to the act proposed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), and lawmakers last month held cross-party negotiations on the revisions.
In addition to the heavier penalties, the amendments also say that the health ministry should use technological assistance provided by the Ministry of Digital Affairs to investigate possible contraventions online to better protect minors, while digital business operators cannot reject or ignore any investigation by the MOHW.
Considering the rapid speed at which images can spread online, the amendments stipulate that the health ministry set up a task force or entrust the private sector to establish an organization to quickly deal with sexual images involving minors by asking Web site operators to remove them or impose restrictions.
The MOHW task force or the entrusted organization should also accept complaints from victims and provide consultation services to them, the amendments say.
The changes also state that the police should establish a digital image data center to prevent the spread of sexual images involving minors and help solve crimes more quickly.
Whenever Web site operators suspect any possible contravention resulting from child pornography or have been notified of an incident by the MOHW or other agencies, they should restrict access or remove the images within 24 hours, the amendments say.
The health ministry’s task force or the entrusted organization should inform Web site operators and the police as soon as they become aware of any suspected crime involving a minor.
In addition, senior high schools and other schools should provide courses of at least two hours each semester to educate students on how to avoid becoming a victim of sexual exploitation, the amendments say.
All levels of schools and preschools should provide training to their staff to raise awareness of child and youth protection from sexual exploitation, they say.
The amendments also request that judiciary and police personnel enhance their knowledge on how to protect minors from sexual exploitation.
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