Thu, Jul 13, 2023 page2

• Robert Tsao urges police, prosecutors to collaborate

  TEAMWORK: Prosecutors last year had to investigate 750,000 cases, but petty crimes could have been pursued by police first, the Taiwan Jury Association director said

  • By Wang Kuan-jen and Jason Pan / Staff reporters
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  United Microelectronics Corp founder Robert Tsao (曹興誠) yesterday called for “emergency bypass surgery” on the justice system by enhancing the role of police investigators to help prosecutors clear a backlog of cases.

  Joined by legal experts and lawmakers at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, Tsao said that inefficiencies and outdated protocols had left the justice system in “paralysis.”

  Comparing it to a coronary incident, he said it had clogged blood vessels and was headed for a heart attack.

  

  United Microelectronics Corp founder Robert Tsao, third right, addresses a news conference at the legislature in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  “We must perform an emergency bypass surgery right now,” he said.

  Police should be responsible for investigating petty crimes, before transferring them to prosecutors to “share the work burden and spur on cooperation,” while preventing the two sides from wasting time doing the same job, he said.

  “It would also more reasonably and equitably divide our precious judicial resources, leading to improved efficiency for criminal investigations,” Tsao said.

  In March, he launched the Taiwan Civil Liberties Union to advocate for judicial reforms, including expediting the legal process.

  The intent of the Criminal Speedy Trial Act (刑事妥速審判法), which went into effect in 2019, is to prevent prosecutors from appealing a first ruling without good reason or sufficient new evidence, he said.

  The current system allows prosecutors to file an appeal without due cause, which has resulted in delays and inefficiencies, leading to cases clogging up the courts, he said, adding that it also further harms the reputations of people who are later found not guilty in criminal matters.

  “A justice system in paralysis cannot uphold justice for citizens,” Tsao said.

  Taiwanese expect the Judicial Yuan and Executive Yuan to reform the legal system, “but the real battle is in the Legislative Yuan, for legislators to propose and approve amendments that improve the law and are in line with advances in society,” he said.

  “In the past under one-party authoritarian rule, Taiwanese could only hope for a benevolent leader to grant them favors, to foster change. Now we are a democracy where the sovereignty and power are held by the citizens, so we should take up that responsibility to demand change, and unify our efforts to push for judicial reform,” he said.

  Last year, prosecutors filed about 160,000 cases with charges that would carry minimum prison sentences of five years or less, Taiwan Jury Association director Chen Wei-shyang (陳為祥) said.

  That made up about 65 percent of the total number of indicted suspects, many for petty crimes and not severe offenses, Chen said.

  The police should have handled the investigating and evidence-gathering for these cases, he said.

  “Public prosecutors had 750,000 cases last year, while we have fewer than 800 prosecutors. Each one has to address about 937 cases each year. They are overburdened and cannot do a thorough job for most cases,” he said.

  Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said that civil groups and judicial reform advocates recommend that police investigators handle defamation, public insult, theft and other petty cases.

  As police officers have close contact with local communities, they are more likely to fairly and reasonably investigate such matters, and then prosecutors can review the cases to determine whether to pursue indictments, Tsai said.
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