Today is the Law Day of the Republic of China. We have chosen this memorable day to unveil the plaque of the Judge Evaluation Committee and officially launch the judge evaluation system set forth in the Judges Act. Friends from the media have also been invited to witness this historic moment. I would like to take this opportunity to present to you the important achievements the Judicial Yuan has made in the past year.
1. Perfection of Judicial Personnel System and Enhancement of Public Confidence in Justice
After years of effort, the Judges act long awaited by the people was finally promulgated by the president on Jul. 6 2010 to provide the legal basis for the diverse channels for appointment of judges, the mechanism for elimination of unfit judges, and the expansion of the levels and aspects of external participation in judicial supervision. The enforcement of the Judges act will enhance the exit mechanism for judges, help perfect the judicial personnel system, and improve the quality of judges to protect people’s right to a fair trial.
According to the established timeline prescribed in the Judges Act, the judge evaluation system will be launched on Jan. 6. Other than eliminating unfit judges, it also includes protection of competent judges and use of external disciplinary measures to bring forth the self-discipline of judges. Overall, the objective of judge evaluation is to create a clean judicial environment for the judges as a group and improve public confidence in justice. It is hoped that the implementation of the judge evaluation system, while ushering justice in Taiwan into a new era, can also win the people’s trust and respect for justice.
2. Deliberation on Public Trial Observation System Feasibility and Improvement of Judicial Transparency
To upgrade the people’s confidence in justice and improve their understanding of justice, the Judicial Yuan created the Public Trial Observation Feasibility Deliberation Committee in Jan. last year to assess the related aspects and study the practices in advanced democracies as well as conduct nationwide questionnaire surveys on the issue. The results showed that most people supported the idea and that the public trial observation system should be implemented on an experimental basis first.
In subsequence, the Judicial Yuan created the “Public Trial Observation Act Research and Enactment Committee” in Aug. last year to conduct extensive research and discussion and draw up the corresponding draft regulations. When the legislation is completed, the system will be operated on an experimental basis in two courts of the Shilin and Chiayi District Courts for three years. When the experimental period is concluded, further review and necessary adjustments will be made.
The idea of public trial observation and various aspects have to be examined and evaluated repeatedly to ascertain its feasibility before a system in compliance with the legal framework and social circumstances in Taiwan and allowing public participation in trials can be established. It is believed that trial courts constituting multiple elements will lead to decisions closer to the expectation of the public and also help educate the people on the practices under rule of law and enhance the people’s understanding of justice.
3. Promotion of Important Bills and Perfection of Legal System
In the past year, a number of important bills were pushed through. The following are the ones closely related the interests of the people:
(1) Enactment of the Judges Act and deliberation on related laws
The enactment of the Judges Act has moved judicial personnel reform into a new phase. Meanwhile, more than forty related laws have also been completed or under deliberation in line with the timeline set forth in the Judges Act, including the promulgation and enforcement of the “Ethical Principles of Judges” and “Regulations on Judge Evaluation by the Judge Evaluation Committee”, to ensure evaluation of judges could be set on the right track at once.
(2) Amendment of the Statute for Consumer Debt Clearance with reconstruction of debtors’ economic life and creditors’ right to debt collection both taken into consideration
To solve the problems incurred from court decisions in consumer debt clearance cases with social circumstances taken into account, the Statute for Consumer Debt Clearance was amended to include regulations for preliminary mediation procedures and relaxation of the exoneration application restrictions to protect the homes of debtors and ensure justness in debt settlement decisions. The amendment was approved on third reading on Dec. 12 last year and promulgated on Jan. 4 this year.
(3) Amendment of the Criminal Compensation Law to assure human rights protection
To ensure fair compensation and protect procedural interests, the “False Imprisonment Compensation Law” was amended, renamed “Criminal Compensation Law”, and promulgated on Jul. 6 last year and enforced on Sep. 1 the same year to be more consistent with the protection of the rights of the people as set forth in the Constitution and the principle of proportion.
(4) Promotion of the new three-court-level and two-instance system for administrative litigation to protect the rights and interests of litigants
As there are only three High Administrative Courts at present, the interests of people seeking judicial settlement can be affected. For rectification, the Administrative Litigation Act has been amended to increase the number of administrative litigation courts in district courts. The amendment was promulgated on Nov. 23 last year and related personnel have been appointed to set up administrative litigation courts in district courts on Sep. 6 this year.
(5) Legislation of the Family Proceedings Act to enhance social harmony
The Family Proceedings Act was approved on third reading on Dec. 12 last year and promulgated today. The regulations regarding company of social workers, guardians ad litem, family dispute investigators, consolidated adjudication, assurance of fulfillment, as well as child custody and child-parent meeting are all new measures designed to help settle family disputes.
4. Achievements in Judicial Reform
(1) Establishment of sentencing databases
To prevent inconsistency in sentencing and ensure penalties could be imposed in line with the principles of proportion and equality, the “Sexual Assault Sentencing Database” was developed and launched on Nov. 1 last year. As of the end of Dec., it had over three thousand visits. Currently, sentencing databases for other types of criminal cases are being developed.
(2) Institutionalization of juvenile and family courts for protection of the rights and interests of women and children
To settle juvenile and family issues, the Family Proceeding s Act has been amended and the Kaohsiung Juvenile and Family Court will be set up on Jun. 1 this year.
(3) Improvement on the punctuality and work attitude of court officials
The measures include formation of teams to provide assistance to the people, establishment of diverse channels for filing complaints, reinforcement of the supervisory and auditing system, and formulation of quantitative criteria for accountability measurement to urge judges to arrange their trial schedules more appropriately and improve their punctuality and attitude in court sessions. A questionnaire survey conducted in 2011 revealed that the satisfaction of lawyers with the questioning attitude and punctuality of judges was high, about 90% of those surveyed regarded the questioning attitude of judges as satisfactory or acceptable while more than 93% of them regarded the service attitude of court staffs as satisfactory or acceptable. This indicates that delays in court sessions and the work attitude of court officials have improved significantly.
(4) Online query for case progress
Since Jul. 2011, the progress of all trial court cases has been open to online query. Litigants and concerned parties having provided their email addresses in the litigation documents may apply for permission to inquire about the progress of their cases online. The court will also inform such applicants of the latest status of their cases via email. This is part of the effort to improve judicial transparency and achieve the goal of making the judicial procedure convenient and easy for the people.
In short, the Judicial Yuan has adopted policies and innovative measures to achieve the goal of justice for the people. According to a survey conducted in 2011 on lawyers’ satisfaction with the results of judicial reform, the majority of those surveyed were convinced that the current judicial reform was positive and making stable progress. In addition, the “2011 Taiwan Human Rights Indicators Survey Report” from the Chinese Association for Human Rights also showed that, compared to two years ago, there was a significant increase in the ratio of people with a positive view toward the developments in the protection of judicial human rights.
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