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DPP draws up draft bill for judges,
prosecutors
By Chiu Yan-ling
Staff Reporter
Sunday, Sep 19, 2010, Page 3
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said yesterday
it has finalized a draft bill for a law on judges and prosecutors aimed at
weeding out those who are unqualified.
In the wake of several alleged corruption cases involving Taiwan High Court
judges as well as public demand for judicial reform over a string of light
sentences given to child sex offenders, the DPP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
caucuses and the Judicial Yuan each are to propose their own versions of a judge
and prosecutor bill for review in the upcoming legislative session, which is
slated to convene on Friday next week.
The DPP caucus yesterday said it had submitted its draft to the legislature,
adding that the draft adopted opinions gathered from the Judicial Reform
Association, which has campaigned for a law on judges and prosecutors for many
years. The establishment of evaluation and disciplinary systems are the two main
points highlighted in its draft, the DPP caucus said.
In its version, the DPP also suggests establishing an independent ¡§judge and
prosecutor assessment group¡¨ under the Control Yuan, which would strengthen the
Control Yuan¡¦s authority to impeach judges and prosecutors.
To have an assessment system placed under the Judicial Yuan is likely to invite
concerns that judges may cover up for one another, the caucus said.
The DPP caucus¡¦ draft also recommends a ¡§discipline committee¡¨ be established
under the Judicial Yuan in charge of carrying out disciplinary actions.
The caucus proposes that when the ¡§judge and prosecutor assessment group¡¨
decides to call for judges or prosecutors to be disciplined, the Control Yuan
would impeach them and simultaneously forward the case to the ¡§discipline
committee¡¨ for further discipline.
The draft also proposes that the assessment group periodically conduct an
evaluation of all judges and prosecutors.
The evaluation items would include their attitudes, whether or not they follow
proper legal procedures and their moral integrity, the draft said, adding the
result of the evaluation must then be publicized.
The assessment group could also launch special evaluations into cases they deem
questionable, it added.
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