Judicial reform advocates yesterday voiced opposition to the Judicial Yuan’s draft act for citizen participation in criminal trial procedures, which they said completely rejects the idea of a jury system and would set the nation’s judiciary back 30 years.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should not prevent its legislators from supporting a proposal that would allow the Judicial Yuan to implement a jury system as well as a lay judge system for six years before either picking one of them or rejecting both, they said at a news conference in Taipei.
The legislature’s Judiciary, Organic Laws and Statues Committee yesterday began reviewing the draft and is to continue tomorrow and on Thursday.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The Judicial Yuan’s version proposes that three judges and six lay judges should jointly preside over criminal trials where defendants face more than 10 years in prison if convicted or where they are accused of intentional homicide, with implementation in 2023 if the bill is passed by the legislature.
The DPP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have supported a lay judge system, which would be similar to the one used in Japan, while the New Power Party (NPP) favors a jury system.
During yesterday’s committee meeting, members failed to reach agreement on the majority of articles, so negotiations on those articles would be necessary.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus whip Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) said that during the 2017 National Judicial Reform Conference, the lay judge system and jury system had an equal number of supporters, while a survey conducted by the TPP found that about 70 percent of respondents said the government should implement the two systems for six years before making a final decision.
The Judicial Yuan should hear the voice of the people and be open to public scrutiny, Lai said.
NPP caucus whip Chia Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said that the Judicial Yuan was widely criticized for ignoring the public opinion when it released its first draft of the act, as it would only apply to about 1,200 cases per year where defendants could face up to seven years in jail.
The draft now under review now would raise the criteria to a 10-year prison sentence, which would apply to about 500 to 600 cases annually, Chia said.
About 200,000 criminal cases are heard per year, which means the voice of the people would not be heard in majority of cases, he said.
Judicial Reform Foundation chairman Lin Yung-sung (林永頌) said the Judicial Yuan held seven meetings with civic groups since last year over the details of its draft act, and participants came very close to reaching a consensus on the six-year plan.
However, the draft act only talks about a lay judge system, and the Judicial Yuan denies ever promising to implement a dual-track system or reaching a consensus on the issue with reform advocates.
“We were surprised to hear the Judicial Yuan’s comments. The introduction of a jury system or a lay judge system is meant to democratize the judicial system, but the Judicial Yuan has apparently decided to ignore public opinion,” Lin said.
A six-year dual-track period would help authorities determine which system is more feasible for Taiwan, he added.
Taiwan Jury Association chairman Cheng Wen-lon (鄭文隆) said that the Judicial Yuan’s proposal, if implemented, would be bad for Taiwan, as it would set the judicial system back 30 years.
A jury system is used in the UK, the US, South Korea and Hong Kong, and such a system in Taiwan would resolve problems that have been caused by corrupt or incompetent judges, as well as political intervention, Cheng said.
The lay judge system proposed by Judicial Yuan is similar to that of Japan’s, which has different social values from Taiwan, he said.
In Japan, the conviction rate of judges and lay judges exceeds 99 percent, he said.
Such a system in Taiwan would become a generator of unjust verdicts, he added.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we