We Oppose Amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure That Disregard People's Rights: Emergency Statement by the Alliance for Criminal Justice Human Rights Legislation

At 9 a.m. tomorrow, the amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure proposed on behalf of the Judicial Yuan by KMT Legislator Wu Ching-chih will be reviewed by the Legislative Yuan's Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee. The Judicial Yuan has proposed three provisions in this amendment. The provision simplifying the procedure for presenting evidence completed its first reading in early June. The remaining two, Article 310-1 on simplified judgments and Article 366-1 restricting the scope of evidence examined at second instance, are likewise being forced through without any public hearing. We firmly oppose such crude lawmaking for the following reasons:

1. The Judicial Yuan wants to raise the threshold for simplified guilty judgments from the current sentence of six months' imprisonment or less to two years or less. According to the Judicial Yuan's 2006 statistical yearbook, if the amendment passes, "95% of judgments will no longer need to state the reasons for finding the defendant guilty"; even with a threshold of one year or less, the share would be as high as 90%, and under the current threshold, as many as 73% of cases can already be handled this way. With guilty judgments simplified to this degree, the presumption of innocence is likely to be completely hollowed out in practice. Passing this provision would make this legislature a culprit in history.
2. The Judicial Yuan wants to narrow the scope of evidence examined at second instance. If the amendment passes, the second instance will in principle be unable to examine evidence already examined at first instance. Defendants who appeal because they disagree with how the first-instance judge examined the evidence would then have no chance to have it examined again.

This amendment is focused entirely on lightening judges' workload, which we find completely unacceptable. We believe there are other legitimate ways to reduce judges' burden, and the Judicial Yuan should think this through more carefully. Regarding the two provisions to be reviewed tomorrow, we call on Legislator Wu Ching-chih, who proposed them and will chair the meeting, to hear the Alliance's demands, and we hope all party caucuses will pay attention to these amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure that affect people's litigation rights and not let them pass rashly. We urge the Judicial Yuan, which is trying to force them through, to think again; otherwise the Alliance does not rule out launching a new wave of protests.

Organizations and Individuals Issuing This Emergency Statement

Attorney Lin Yung-fa, Chairperson, Taiwan Bar Association
Attorney Liu Chih-peng, Chairperson, Taipei Bar Association
Attorney Huang Jui-ming, Chairperson, Judicial Reform Foundation
Attorney Lo Ping-cheng, Chair, Criminal Law Committee, Taiwan Bar Association
Attorney Ku Li-hsiung, Chair, Criminal Procedure Committee, Taiwan Bar Association
Attorney Huang Hsu-tien, Chair, Judicial Reform Committee, Taiwan Bar Association
Attorney Yu Po-hsiang, Deputy Secretary-General, Taiwan Bar Association

Members of the Alliance for Criminal Justice Human Rights Legislation

Taiwan Alliance for Constitutional Reform in the 21st Century, Humanistic Education Foundation, Chinese Association for Human Rights, Taiwan Bar Association, Taipei Bar Association, Tainan Bar Association, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Taiwan Criminal Law Society, Taiwan Law Society, Taiwan Foundation for Peace and Culture, National Union of Taiwan Women's Associations, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions, Taiwan Tongzhi (LGBT) Hotline Association, Taiwan Labour Front, National Association for the Promotion of Community Universities, Taoyuan Bar Association, Judicial Reform Foundation, Legal Aid Foundation, Kaohsiung Bar Association, Third Society, Parents' Association for Persons with Intellectual Disability, Hsinchu Bar Association, Chiayi Bar Association, Green Party Taiwan, Chen-She, Amnesty International Taiwan