Not Just Bad Luck

Following the sensational robbery case at the residence of Wu Ju-yueh of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Group last year, which involved the wrongful arrest of four juveniles, police coercion leading to false confessions, and the eventual discovery of the real culprit, new developments have emerged. The four wrongfully accused juveniles filed a state compensation lawsuit against the police, resulting in a court ruling ordering the Taipei City Police Department to pay NT$50,000 to each of the four. Additionally, the juveniles filed criminal charges against the police officers who used intimidation and exhaustive interrogation to force confessions. Hung Chun-mu, then-chief of the Shilin Precinct, and Ch'en I-te of the criminal investigation division received a demerit each from the Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries, while Wu San-fu, a squad leader in the criminal investigation division, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment with three years' probation for the crime of coercion.

The newsworthiness of this incident is naturally far less shocking than the news of the Shin Kong Group residence robbery back then. To be honest, what does NT$50,000 represent? What does a major demerit matter? The heaviest punishment was merely a three-month prison sentence, which could of course be commuted to a fine. It is hardly surprising that it failed to attract much attention in the media. However, for a judicial process marred by frequent police errors, the outcome of pursuing accountability to the very end holds profound significance.

If it were anyone else, losing five days of freedom and enduring the humiliation of nearly being treated as a robber would, once the truth came to light, probably be dismissed as a streak of bad luck, to be warded off by eating a bowl of pork trotters and noodles to dispel misfortune and call it a day. Yet, it is precisely because of this mindset of "resigned acceptance of bad luck" in our justice system that wrongdoers never have to pay a price, condoning potential mistakes and lowering the risk of wrongdoing. As a result, repeating errors becomes the norm, and one might even hear self-righteous counterattacks like, "We are not gods! How can we not make mistakes?"—as if being wrong were nothing to make a fuss about. This is the sorrow of ordinary Taiwanese citizens; we always have to get used to being treated without dignity. When encountering unreasonable things, we can only regard it as our own bad luck, consoling ourselves with the notion that "suffering a loss is a blessing in disguise," forgetting that if those who do wrong do not realize their mistakes, someone will forever be victimized next time.

The four juveniles framed in the Wu residence robbery case and their parents' willingness to persist in "seeking justice" precisely declares the realization: "It is not because I am unlucky, but because someone made a mistake." A mere NT$50,000 or a three-month prison sentence cannot truly heal the fear and panic felt at the time; what matters is, what have our police learned? Have they begun to realize that all ordinary people ask for is justice, and even if investigations cannot hit the mark every single time, it does not mean they can resort to torture to extract confessions? Standing at the very upstream of the justice system, have our police heard the heartfelt plea of the people longing for clean and innocent investigations?

※ Published in: Taiwan Daily