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.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese