A Judicial Yuan plan to budget NT$120 million (US$4.15 million) next year for a public marketing campaign to promote a lay judge system is an attempt to mislead society on “wrongly implemented” reforms, a civic group said yesterday.
The Taiwan Jury Association, which has been pushing for a jury system instead of the government’s preferred lay judge approach, said the Judicial Yuan should face up to the core judicial reform issues that need to be addressed.
The Judicial Yuan should promote impartial trials and improve the judiciary for those working within it, rather than throwing money at “propaganda,” the association said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The Judicial Yuan has proposed a budget of NT$220 million for next year, of which NT$120 million was earmarked for the promotional campaign.
The campaign would feature television, film, radio and online components, and the Judicial Yuan plans to hire Internet celebrities and a professional spokesperson, association president Wu Ching-chin (吳景欽) said.
“A recently proposed amendment to the Criminal Compensation Act (刑事補償法) would award victims of judicial miscarriage between NT$160,000 and NT$360,000,” New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said. “How is it that the government can only provide such a small amount to those who have gone through such suffering, while spending such a large amount on propaganda?”
The Judicial Yuan must squarely face its errors to gain the public’s trust, he said.
For example, it could systematically research what led to miscarriages of justice, Chiu said.
The Judicial Yuan should explain why such a large budget is needed for a promotional campaign, association founder Jerry Cheng (鄭文龍) said, adding that over the course of a year fewer than 600 cases would be tried using lay judges.
“If no improvements are made to judicial proceedings, then what is the point of hiring Internet celebrities to promote the system?” he said.
Internet Gazette Law Paper (法治時報社) publisher and legal expert Huang Yueh-hung (黃越宏) said that the Judicial Yuan was using taxpayer money to promote its lay judge system, while abandoning a proposed jury system, which the Democratic Progressive Party calls for in its charter.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS