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Ma urges passage of judicial reform
WITH HASTE: The president said he would like to see the draft bill pass
through the legislature in a speedy manner, as well as better on-the-job
training for judges
By Ko Shu-ling
Staff Reporter
Sunday, Sep 26, 2010, Page 1
A boy holds a white rose during a rally to
protest against the nation's justice system in front of the Presidential Office
in Taipei yesterday.
PHOTO: SAM YEH, AFP
President Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E) has heard the call of the White Rose Movement and
is urging swift passage of a draft bill to regulate the certification,
performance and ethics of judges, the Presidential Office said in a statement
issued yesterday.
The statement came in response to a rally by thousands of demonstrators in front
of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard last night calling for
incompetent judges to be dismissed. Demonstrators also called for legislation to
better protect children and people with disabilities against sexual abuse.
The demonstrators, many joined by their children, handed out white roses to call
for better care of minors.
The White Rose Movement, initiated by local netizens and organizations dedicated
to the welfare of women and children, emerged amid public fury stirred by the
recent acquittals and light sentences given to people accused of molesting
children because the judges ruled that it could not be proven that the victims
had objected to the actions of the defendants.
In one case, Supreme Court judges rejected an appeal to convict a suspect
accused of molesting a three-year-old girl because prosecutors failed to prove
the alleged offense was committed against the girl¡¦s wishes. The case was sent
back to a lower court for retrial.
In another case, a judge ruled that prosecutors failed to prove a six-year-old
girl had shown ¡§strong will¡¨ in fighting off the perpetrator, and found him
guilty of ¡§having sex with a person under 14 years of age,¡¨ which came with a
sentence of three years and two months in prison, rather than finding him guilty
of committing ¡§sexual assault,¡¨ which is punishable by three to 10 years in
jail.
The rulings led to 300,000 Internet users lodging online complaints demanding
the judges be fired and calling for an overhaul of the judiciary system.
¡§We need laws to protect children who don¡¦t know how to fend off sex abuse,¡¨
Garden of Hope Foundation executive director Chi Hui-jung (¬ö´f®e) said.
The Judicial Yuan has since agreed to push for an amendment that regards sex
with children under the age of seven as rape, which is punishable by a minimum
sentence of seven years.
Giving his support for tougher penalties for child molesters, Ma said in the
statement that he attached great importance to judicial reform and hoped that a
draft of the judges¡¦ act approved by the Cabinet and sent to the legislature on
Thursday, would pass in a speedy manner.
During the legislative procedure, it is necessary to seek opinions from all
circles before reaching a consensus, the statement said.
Equally important is the on-the-job training of judges and prosecutors, it said,
adding that the Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Justice must step up efforts
to organize training programs.
It is worth considering cooperating with expert witnesses when the court was
hearing cases of sexual assault on children, it added.
As for the compulsory medical treatment of pedophiles, the statement said Ma
would like to see related agencies get on with the program, complementing other
prevention measures, such as circulating notices when a pedophile moved into a
community and observing high-risk families.
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