Local judicial administrations have compiled lists containing the names of 131,990 people in total who qualify as citizen judges to preside over cases from next year, Judicial Yuan Disciplinary Court Head Judge Peng Hsing-ming (彭幸鳴) said on Thursday as the judicial system is preparing for a far-reaching update to its proceedings.
Six citizen judges are from Jan. 1 to join three professional judges presiding over criminal trials, she said.
In the first stage of implementation, panels with citizen judges would only preside over major criminal cases, such as homicides, Peng said.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times
Based on the lists, local courts would conduct further screenings of candidates, and those who qualify would be notified by mail by the end of this year, she said.
Vetting would be thorough to ensure that the process is fair, she said.
People selected as judges can direct their questions to dedicated officials at local courts, she added.
As there has been rumor that criminals are planning to send fake notifications, people who receive suspicious mail should call the 165 anti-fraud hotline, she said.
“The official notification will come with an instruction booklet,” Peng said.
The documents would feature a simple and direct presentation, and be visually appealing, easy to understand and user-friendly, she said, adding that the government hopes that the design would help increase people’s willingness to participate in the new system.
”The documents will explain the process. They will also contain a survey and a registration form” to explain the new citizen judge system, she said.
Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lin Huei-huang (林輝煌) said: “It is a privilege and a duty for people to serve as citizen judges.”
The citizen judges and their professional peers would work as a team on the newly designed panels, Lin added.
The panels would carefully deliberate cases before voting whether the defendant should be found guilty, Lin said.
The panel would also decide on the kind and length of punishment, he said.
”Citizen judges will not be left alone … and decisions will be made collectively, while each judge will have the right to independently make their decision” he added.
The new panel composition is based on the Citizen Judges Act (國民法官法), which is to take effect on Jan. 1.
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
Minister of Labor Ho Pei-shan (何佩珊) yesterday apologized after the suicide of a civil servant earlier this month and announced that a supervisor accused of workplace bullying would be demoted. On Nov. 4, a 39-year-old information analyst at the Workforce Development Agency’s (WDA) northern branch, which covers greater Taipei and Keelung, as well as Yilan, Lienchiang and Kinmen counties, was found dead in their office. WDA northern branch director Hsieh Yi-jung (謝宜容), who has been accused of involvement in workplace bullying, would be demoted to a nonsupervisory position, Ho told a news conference in Taipei. WDA Director-General Tsai Meng-liang (蔡孟良) said he would