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2020 Work and Financial Report | When the World Lay Low, We Kept Paddling

2020 Work and Financial Report | When the World Lay Low, We Kept Paddling

Last edited: 2026-08-29

Judicial Reform Foundation

2020 was a year in which much of the world went quiet under the pandemic. Those of us in Taiwan were comparatively fortunate. JRF adjusted some work arrangements, but the only major program canceled because of COVID-19 was the summer student camp; most other work continued. Several projects also made concrete progress. The Minor-Offense Parole Revocation Project helped bring about Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 796; Chen Ching-Kai won a civil retrial in one of the cases JRF supports; and the amended Prison Act and Detention Act took effect in July.

JRF spent a total of NT$42,826,348 in 2020. The financial and work report below explains expenditures and results across our core areas, including legal and policy work, individual case support and monitoring, advocacy, international cooperation, and resource development.

One unusual expenditure was the "Hong Kong Project." In response to the social protests in Hong Kong from late 2019 through 2020, the project provided legal, medical, and other emergency humanitarian assistance to Hongkongers in Taiwan. It accounted for 36% of JRF's 2020 expenditures, totaling NT$15,432,830. The project has since been handed over and closed.

 

Financial Report

 

Figure: Distribution of 2020 Expenditures

Category Key Work Items Expenditure
Hong Kong Project Providing legal, medical, and emergency humanitarian assistance to Hongkongers in Taiwan 15,432,830
Legal and Policy Work Citizen participation in trials; protection of crime victims' rights; implementation of rules on confidentiality of investigations; amendments to subsidiary regulations under the Judges Act; prosecutorial and police reform; policies to reduce judicial workload and improve adjudicative quality; development of external inspection guidelines for correctional institutions; monitoring implementation of the National Conference on Judicial Reform; the Technology-Assisted Investigation Act; and forensic science 2,821,168
Individual Case Support

and Monitoring		 Wrongful-conviction case support; cases involving human-rights violations in correctional institutions; the March 18 Anti-Black-Box CSSTA Pro Bono Legal Team; the eID smart-ID litigation pro bono legal team; and monitoring of unfit judges and prosecutors 3,015,152
Advocacy Sit-in advocating parallel pilots of jury and lay-judge models; Chiu Ho-Shun exhibitions and solidarity actions; campus course partnerships; issue-based lectures; campus mock trials; social-media operations; and website maintenance 4,224,227
International Cooperation Advocacy for Li Ming-Che; Hong Kong human-rights issues; Chinese human-rights lawyers; and exchange and cooperation with international organizations 2,096,649
Resource Development Annual thanksgiving banquet, art charity auction, supporter relationship management 5,303,889
Administration and General Affairs Daily administration; routine organizational governance (Board of Directors, Supervisors, Standing Executive Committee, and annual planning); recruitment of volunteer attorneys; education and training; cybersecurity; and maintenance and replacement of office equipment 6,657,454
Taichung

Office		 Wrongful-conviction case support; judicial evaluation monitoring and the Judicial Sunshine Network; local lectures; campus rule-of-law education; intern and volunteer capacity-building; administration; and organizational development 2,961,958
Legal Ethics

2020 Work Results		 What We Accomplished in 2020 313,021
Total 42,826,348
 

Work Results

 

In 2020, we accomplished these...
Click on the graphics to learn more

39sessions
Press Conferences

Hosted 32 sessions, participated in solidarity for 7 sessions

17pieces
Statements

Authored 10 pieces, participated in solidarity for 7 pieces

1,800visitors
Hai-Wang's Daybreak Special Exhibition

14-day exhibition period, 1,800 visitors

9,519hours
Student Internships

171 individuals, totaling 9,519 hours

294sessions
Meetings

Hosted 228 sessions, participated in 66

212sessions
Grievance Interviews

Interviews with case parties

1,186persons
Symposiums

2 in-person sessions with 187 attendees, 1 online session with 999 attendees

103viewers
Documentary Screenings

2 sessions, 103 viewers

432persons
Discussions and Workshops

15 sessions, with a total of 432 participants

70sessions
Campus Activities

26 thematic lectures, 18 simulated jury trials, 26 serial collaborative courses

23sessions
Court Hearing Mobilizations

Wrongful-conviction cases: 11 sessions; March 18 Anti-Black-Box CSSTA cases: six sessions; judicial-discipline and supervision matters: four sessions; eID litigation: two sessions

20sessions
Court Observation of Official Mock Trials

Monitoring the Citizen Judges Act

24days
Sit-In

Opposing the rushed passage of the Citizen Judges Act during an extraordinary legislative session

42sessions
Reading Groups

Legal Ethics Center reading groups

3,932subscribers
Newsletters and Feature Articles

6 issues, totaling 3,932 subscriptions

1,128,068
Website Pageviews

An increase of 22.31% compared to 2019

854k
Facebook Reach

An increase of 93.3% compared to 2019

 

Project Briefings

 

Hong Kong Project

  • Manpower:
    • 5 full-time staff
    • 3 part-time staff
  • Expenditure: 36%, totaling NT$15,432,830
In response to Hong Kong's social protests from late 2019 through 2020, JRF worked with several organizations to establish the Taiwan-Hong Kong Legal Support Team, providing legal assistance, medical care, and other emergency humanitarian support to Hongkongers in Taiwan. The project completed its handover and closed in late 2020.

Legal and Policy Work

  • Manpower:
    • 1 full-time lawyer
    • 1 full-time researcher
    • 1 part-time researcher
  • Expenditure: 6.6%, totaling NT$2,821,168
Legal and policy work includes researching and drafting legislation; preparing advocacy materials that explain proposed reforms to legislators and the public; meeting legislators to discuss bills; and organizing related forums and events.

When JRF monitors or supports an individual case, it also asks whether the case reveals an institutional defect that should be corrected to prevent the next person from being harmed.
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Individual Case Support and Monitoring

  • Manpower:
    • 1 full-time lawyer
    • 2 full-time legal officers
  • Expenditure: 7.0%, totaling NT$3,015,152
"Injustice in individual cases shows why institutional reform is necessary; institutional reform that cannot deliver justice in individual cases is merely an illusion."

JRF has long worked on the front line, listening to people's experiences of the justice system, receiving requests for assistance, and providing legal support where appropriate. Most supported cases concern criminal wrongful convictions, while JRF also provides legal consultation on correctional grievances under the Prison Act and Detention Act.
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Organizational Advocacy

  • Manpower: 3 full-time staff
  • Expenditure: 9.9%, totaling NT$4,224,227
To help the public understand the cases JRF supports and the issues it advocates, JRF has long spoken through press conferences, statements, and forums. In recent years it has also experimented with other formats, including infographics, e-newsletters, exhibitions, and workshops, and has partnered with teachers to bring judicial-reform issues into classrooms.
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International Cooperation

  • Manpower: 3 full-time staff
  • Expenditure: 4.9%, totaling NT$2,096,649
Strengthen exchanges with international legal professionals and civil-society organizations and learn from international experience in judicial reform. Follow developments concerning human rights and the rule of law in Asia and beyond, while deepening JRF's participation in international advocacy and education on human rights and the rule of law.

The International Department works to advance human rights and the rule of law in the region. Its principal themes include procedural justice, lawyers' rights, judicial reform, and legal protection of civil rights. Its work includes meetings, forums, exchanges, research, and publications.
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Administration and General Affairs

  • Manpower
    • 2 full-time staff
    • 2 part-time staff
  • 15.5%, totaling NT$6,657,454
JRF carries out the foundation's required administrative work, including Board meetings, Standing Executive Committee meetings, annual planning, and financial management, and periodically reviews internal rules.

Routine administration is what keeps the office running. Hardware and software, office supplies, inventory, and facilities all require maintenance and management. But people are JRF's most important resource, so the organization also provides internal training and learning resources for staff.
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Resource Development

  • Manpower: 2 full-time staff
  • Expenditure: 12.4%, totaling NT$5,303,889
JRF does not apply for government grants or government-funded projects. Its work depends on donations from the public, which are the sole source of funding that allows the organization to continue.

JRF holds an annual appreciation banquet to raise funds from project supporters and solicits artwork from artists for charity auctions. In 2020 it also launched an artwork-return initiative under the "JRF Friendly Art" program as another effort to diversify fundraising.
Learn More

Taichung Office

  • Manpower: 2 full-time staff
  • Expenditure: 6.9%, totaling NT$2,961,958
Entering its fifth year, the Taichung Office continued building local relationships and strengthening the foundations of the rule of law and democracy, with the goal of connecting local resources more effectively.
Learn More

Legal Ethics Center

  • Manpower: 0.5 full-time staff
  • Expenditure: 0.7%, totaling NT$313,021
Legal ethics is a core subject in mature rule-of-law systems, but it has long received too little attention in Taiwanese legal education, and basic, comprehensive research and discussion remain limited. The Legal Ethics Center aims to serve as a "sower" for the field.

Alongside its existing core work, JRF established the Legal Ethics Center to conduct research and advocacy on legal ethics. The Center collects important scholarship from other rule-of-law jurisdictions and undertakes translation work in the hope of laying a foundation for locally grounded legal-ethics research.

Income and Expenditure Operating (Settlement) Statement

 
Previous Year's
Settled Amount		 Item Current Year's
Budgeted Amount
(1)		 Current Year's
Settled Amount
(2)		 Comparative Increase (Decrease-)
Amount
(3)=(2)-(1)		 %
(4)=(3)/(1)*100
32,924,869 Income 25,500,000  40,449,996  14,949,996  58.63%
31,827,006 Donation Income 24,578,000  39,856,597  15,278,597  62.16%
539,124 Interest Income 330,000  479,873  149,873  45.42%
558,739 Other Income 592,000  113,526  -478,474  -80.82%
 
29,580,008 Expenditure 32,000,000  42,826,348  10,826,348  33.83%
14,475,823 Personnel Expenses 16,290,000 15,402,932  -887,068  -5.45%
12,370,988 Salary Expenses 13,600,000  13,163,866  -436,134  -3.21%
62,612 Overtime Pay 100,000  119,285  19,285  19.29%
591,724 Retirement Pensions 600,000  523,584  -76,416  -12.74%
1,290,606 Insurance Benefits 1,320,000  1,295,553  -24,447  -1.85%
159,893 Other Personnel Expenses 670,000  300,644  -369,356  -55.13%
4,656,366 Office (Administrative) Expenses 3,757,680 4,685,506  927,826  24.69%
80,820 Stationery, Books, and Periodicals 83,800  76,313  -7,487  -8.93%
331,132 Printing and Binding Expenses 158,000  216,432  58,432  36.98%
158,654 Utilities and Fuel Expenses 124,000  141,312  17,312  13.96%
781,101 Travel and Transportation Expenses 762,000  916,786  154,786  20.31%
168,207 Postal and Telecommunication Expenses 141,000  176,123  35,123  24.91%
0 Taxes and Dues 0  0  0  #DIV/0!
1,775,593 Rent Expenses 1,594,880  1,608,017  13,137  0.82%
145,300 Repairs and Maintenance Expenses 10,000  109,704  99,704  997.04%
0 Property Insurance Expenses 40,000  0  -40,000  -100.00%
35,348 Public Relations Expenses 30,000  17,285  -12,715  -42.38%
1,180,211 Other Office (Administrative) Expenses 814,000  1,423,534  609,534  74.88%
8,358,568 Meeting and Event Expenses 11,052,320 20,757,823  9,705,503  87.81%
603,360 Venue Expenses 1,000,000  603,360  -396,640  -39.66%
1,414,248 Business Publicity Expenses 4,692,000  2,716,327  -1,975,673  -42.11%
5,883,500 Lecturing Hourly Fees, Writing Fees, or Attendance/Review Fees 5,040,000  16,180,789  11,140,789  221.05%
47,874 Publication and Distribution Expenses 50,000  25,395  -24,605  -49.21%
409,586 Other Business Expenses 270,320  1,231,952  961,632  355.74%
475,292 Acquisition Expenses 100,000  324,071  224,071  224.07%
1,351,962 Donations 400,000  1,527,002  1,127,002  281.75%
261,997 Depreciation 400,000  129,014  -270,986  -67.75%
    0       
0 Income Tax Expenses (Benefits) 0  0     
3,344,861 Current Period Surplus (Deficit) -6,500,000  -2,376,352  4,123,648  -63.44%

This article is an AI-generated translation of the original Chinese text. In the event of any discrepancy, the Chinese version shall prevail.

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