Several prosecutors have voiced support for decriminalizing adultery as the Council of Grand Justices on Tuesday heard arguments that treating adultery as a crime is unconstitutional.
Eighteen judges and a defendant in an adultery case have over the past several years repeatedly asked the council for a constitutional interpretation of Article 239 of the Criminal Code, which stipulates that a married person who commits adultery and the other party to the adultery should each receive a prison term of less than one year, but that there can be no trial without a complaint from an alleged victim.
Judicial Yuan President Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) concluded Tuesday’s hearing by setting a date for a constitutional interpretation of the matter within the next month.
One prosecutor said on condition of anonymity that while it might seem that Article 239 is necessary to keep families intact, in reality it does not help reduce the divorce rate.
Legal proceedings for adultery waste judicial resources and force spouses to confront each other in court, so it is questionable whether criminalizing adultery is even necessary, they said.
Another problem is that judges often require alleged victims to prove that their spouses had sex with a third party, which can force complainants to breach privacy laws when trying to collect evidence, the prosecutor said.
If the complainant is then counter-sued for breaching privacy laws, the question of who is actually punished during court proceedings for adultery becomes murky, they said.
Another prosecutor said on condition of anonymity that the punishment for an adultery conviction is meaningless, as the sentence imposed is almost always commutable to a fine.
“How could a change in one’s feelings possibly be altered by a fine of hundreds of thousands of [New Taiwan] dollars?” the prosecutor said, adding that a verdict cannot help rebuild a relationship when it is already broken beyond repair.
Ministry of Justice head prosecutor Lin Ying-tzu (林映姿) said that Taiwanese society has yet to reach a consensus on whether to decriminalize adultery.
In the most recent government-conducted public opinion poll on the topic, which was posted on an Executive Yuan Web site in 2016, 85 percent of 10,755 respondents said that they opposed the decriminalization of adultery, Lin said.
A Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation poll in 2017 found that 69 percent of people were opposed to decriminalization, Lin added.
Most people seem to be opposed to the idea of decriminalizing adultery due to social mores and might find it hard to accept immediate abolishment, Lin said.
The Coalition for the Happiness of Our Next Generation, a non-governmental organization that led the charge against same-sex marriage in referendums held in November 2018, said that it opposed the decriminalization of adultery.
The law “strengthens people’s respect of marriage, and protects the institution of marriage and the family,” the group said in a statement.
The group rejected the argument that the article should be abolished if it fails in its stated purpose to deter people from committing adultery.
“If we follow this logic, then we should also abolish homicide-related laws if they cannot prevent people from committing murder,” it said.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be
RSS