Criminal Procedure and Technology-Based Investigation In September 2020, the Ministry of Justice announced the draft Technology-Based Investigative Procedures Act, incorporating global positioning systems, online searches, and other investigative methods, which garnered significant attention. The JRF immediately formed a dedicated team, began drafting a non-governmental version of the bill, and held multiple seminars inviting experts, scholars, and practitioners from the legal and technological sectors to foster social dialogue.
Meanwhile, regarding various amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure proposed by the government, we also hold regular monthly revision meetings, drafting non-governmental versions or providing amendment suggestions to ensure that the direction of legislative amendments safeguards human rights.
- 2022.5.19 Participated in a Judicial Yuan symposium, offering amendment suggestions regarding the "pyramidal" reform of the Code of Criminal Procedure
Project on Alleviating Judicial Burden and Enhancing Judicial Quality Taiwan's judicial burden has been overly heavy for a long time. Judges, prosecutors, court clerks, and court bailiffs are all overworked, facing tight staffing and heavy caseloads, which in turn affects the quality of case handling. The National Congress on Judicial Reform also passed resolutions on this issue, successively proposing solutions such as reform of the disposition system, simplification of legal documents, and the establishment of case-filing review centers.
To address this issue, the JRF has also formed a dedicated team. Through long-term research and discussion, we hope to propose more potential solutions to achieve the goals of alleviating the judicial burden and enhancing judicial quality.
- 2022.1.10 Press Conference on the Announcement of the Draft for Alleviating Judicial Burden and Enhancing Judicial Quality
- 2022.5.7 Symposium on Alleviating Judicial Burden and Enhancing Judicial Quality
Drug Safety Education Law plays an important role in early intervention measures for drug-using children and adolescents. However, Taiwan's legal system is scattered across various domains, making it difficult for school partners who wish to help to mobilize resources and provide assistance across teaching, student affairs, and counseling. Moreover, shifts in counseling interfaces involve different legal obligations and room for action; legal issues consistently persist throughout the counseling process.
To enhance front-line teachers' drug safety literacy and appropriately handle the privacy and disciplinary strategies of drug-using youth, we brought together partners concerned with this issue from all walks of life to produce the Drug Safety Education Handbook. Through concrete case studies, we guide basic response concepts, enabling teachers to understand how to interact with drug-using youth in educational settings and their statutory responsibilities, while appropriately cooperating and providing assistance with social workers and the judiciary.
Monitoring the Citizen Judges Act Facing the Citizen Judges Act, which is set to take effect on January 1, 2023, the JRF has compiled first-hand documents from courts across Taiwan, observed from various angles, and provided observation guidelines and questionnaires. We have also gathered reform-minded partners from across the region to offer recommendations on the system, voice opinions on subordinate statutes, and hold press conferences, workshops, and seminars. These efforts help judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, scholars, and the general public better understand how the system operates, assisting in the smooth implementation of the citizen participation in trials system in Taiwan.
To popularize related literacy, between 2021 and 2022, we accepted invitations from organizations such as Daan Community College, Songshan Community College, the Academic Department of the National Taiwan University Student Union, National Chung Cheng University, and the Affiliated Senior High School of National Chiayi University to introduce the citizen judges system; held three "Citizen Judge Seed Lecturer Workshops" in Taipei, Tainan, and Hsinchu; and hosted three "Citizen Observation Group Briefing Sessions" to allow members of the general public to sit in and participate in mock trial proceedings in courts.
Crime Victim Rights Protection In 2020, we officially established the "Crime Victim Rights Protection Alliance," hoping to establish a brand-new institution modeled after the Legal Aid Foundation. Operating under a "government-funded, privately-operated" model, this alliance aims to enhance the efficiency of resource utilization and strengthen the protection of crime victims' rights. Over two years since the establishment of the dedicated team, we have drafted a brand-new non-governmental Crime Victim Rights Protection Act, conducted nationwide visits to crime victim protection associations, and held five press conferences to actively facilitate the passage of the new law.
- 2022.4.7 Press Conference of the Crime Victim Rights Protection Alliance: Seeing the Dawn of Victim Rights, Hoping for More Pragmatic and Complete Reforms
- 2022.9.22 Press Conference of the Crime Victim Rights Protection Alliance: Reform Is Just One Step Away—Pass the Crime Victim Protection Act Expeditiously
Reform of the Police, Prosecutor, and Investigation Systems Taiwan's unreasonable police performance evaluation system not only leaves front-line police officers exhausted in pursuit of quotas, but has even driven some to take risks and conduct illegal investigative acts to meet those demands. Incidents such as a Zhonghe police officer kicking a teenager's head, a music teacher being unreasonably subdued and handcuffed in the street, and Sanchong police officers improperly questioning a migrant worker all demonstrate that police misconduct and overzealous enforcement continue to occur.
In addition to continuously monitoring the follow-ups of the National Congress on Judicial Reform regarding police system reform, the JRF actively intervenes when police abuse of power makes news headlines to help victims seek state compensation resources, hold press conferences, and form advocacy campaigns. For example, regarding the incident where Sanchong police officers improperly questioned a foreign migrant worker, we issued a joint statement with 20 migrant worker organizations and produced a documentary to continue monitoring this issue.
- 2022.1.20 Press Conference: Willing to Violate the Principle of Non-Publicity of Investigation Just to Grab Media Headlines? Demanding the Prompt Establishment of a Police Performance Management Committee
- 2022.6.22 Statement by Civil Organizations Calling on Police to Cease Discriminatory Enforcement Practices Against Migrant Workers
Civilian Coalition for Monitoring the Implementation of Resolutions of the National Congress on Judicial Reform Following the concluding meeting on August 12, 2017, the Office of the President's National Congress on Judicial Reform—which lasted over ten months—came to a close. However, the many tasks of judicial reform were only just beginning after the meeting. The JRF and other civil organizations jointly formed the "Civilian Coalition for Monitoring the Implementation of Resolutions of the National Congress on Judicial Reform," tracking the implementation status of judicial reform resolutions every year through press conferences, seminars, or lecture series.
- 2022.8.11 Five-Year Anniversary Press Conference of the National Congress on Judicial Reform: Do Not Give Up on Judicial Reform Scores—Final Sprint Requires Effort
Forensic Science and Expert Testimony The JRF began focusing on the reform of forensic and appraisal systems in its early years, including concerns raised in 2002 regarding the reform of forensic medicine and criminalistics systems, followed by a symposium on "Preliminary Crime Scene Handling Guidelines" the next year. In 2008, the JRF participated in the Criminal Human Rights Legislation Promotion Alliance, jointly proposing a non-governmental draft of the Code of Criminal Procedure to demand the introduction of an expert witness system.
In recent years, the Forensic Science Alliance has dedicated itself to researching the organizational laws related to a specialized National Forensic Science Research Institute in Taiwan, continuing to promote and explore comprehensive reforms of our forensic science system while providing oversight and demands during major news events.
- 2022.1.12 Press Conference: Drug Testing Blunders Expose Systemic Flaws in Forensic Science—Establish a National Forensic Science Commission Expeditiously
- 2022.5.28 Online Seminar: Review and Prospects of the Kaohsiung Medical University Drug Testing Incident
- April 2022 to Present: Drafting the non-governmental National Forensic Science Research Institute Organization Act
Constitutional Court Procedure Act The JRF has consistently accepted public petitions for cases where fundamental human rights have been severely violated, involve significant public interest, and meet constitutional litigation requirements. Cases assisted in recent years include: Tai Li-chen's whistleblower dismissal case, Hsu Kuo-yao's unjust dismissal case, Su Chien-he's mitigation of criminal compensation due to attributable coerced confessions, the unconstitutional manufacturing, sale, and transport of drugs case, and the minor-offense parole revocation constitutional interpretation project—all achieved through our collective efforts.
Following the launch of the new system, we have also issued amicus curiae briefs for significant cases such as the Indigenous Status Act case, the D-grade performance rating dismissal case, Hsu Kuo-yao's working hours case, the National Health Insurance Database case, and the retrial consecutive-sentencing clause case, while continuing to care for and monitor the operation of constitutional litigation.
- 2022.11 Responded to the Judicial Yuan's draft amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act by proposing a counter-proposal and attending a Legislative Yuan public hearing
Research and Revision of the State Compensation Act On September 2, 2021, the Executive Yuan passed a full amendment draft of the State Compensation Act, which will have a profound impact on people's rights, institutional actions, and the state responsibility system.
The JRF thus established a legislative revision research group to immediately draft a non-governmental amendment proposal. Within one year of its establishment, the group has held over 10 meetings. A non-governmental initial draft has now been completed, and subsequent seminars will be held to gather broader opinions, promoting progressive legal revisions so that every citizen harmed by illegal state actions can seek justice.
Research and Revision of the Code of Civil Procedure The JRF has always supported the reform direction of a "pyramidal litigation system," but advocates for comprehensive supporting measures and the enhancement of trial quality in factual adjudication to advance reforms steadily and progressively. Therefore, regarding the Judicial Yuan's reform direction focusing on "narrowing the people's right of appeal," not only are the objective conditions unripe, but it also lacks proper buffering. In addition to opposing the Judicial Yuan's direction, we are actively researching amendment proposals to strengthen factual adjudication, striving to build a civil trial system that effectively protects private rights.
- 2022.3.16 JRF invited lawyers from across regions: Consultation meeting on monitoring the "pyramidal litigation system" amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure
- 2022.3.21 Petition press conference opposing the official draft amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure: "President Tsai, Do You Support Judicial Reform That Infringes Upon People's Right of Appeal?"
- 2022.4.20 Public Hearing on Narrowing People's Right of Appeal and Where Is the Impact Assessment? Implementing Judicial Reform and Constructing a Pyramidal Litigation System
- March 2022 to Present: Continually convening revision meetings to research the non-governmental reform draft of the Code of Civil Procedure
Research and Revision of the Code of Administrative Procedure On June 22, 2022, the Code of Administrative Procedure was promulgated by the President and is scheduled to take effect in August 2023.
To ensure that the amendments to the Code of Administrative Procedure reflect the actual needs of the people and enable administrative litigation brought against the government to be handled more effectively and fairly, the JRF established a specialized legislative revision team to review the Judicial Yuan's draft and practical issues in current administrative litigation cases, while continuing to research systems such as the Petitions Act to enhance the protection of people's rights and strengthen the effect of using litigation to monitor the government.
- 2022.5.24 Statement: Complete Overhaul of the Administrative Litigation System—The Legislative Yuan Must Safeguard People's Rights
- 2022.7.22 Comments on the amendment of retrial provisions under Article 273 of the Code of Administrative Procedure
- 2022.7.27 Comments on the formulation of methods under Article 232, Paragraph 3 of the Code of Administrative Procedure
Prison Grievances and Systemic Reform Everything happening behind prison walls is not severed from the lives of people in a free society. In fact, prison human rights conditions serve as an important indicator for examining a country's fundamental human rights. In 2020, the new Prison Act and Detention Act took effect, responding to the National Congress on Judicial Reform held in 2017. Based on the fundamental principles of legalization and transparency, and meeting the demands of legalization, 32 authorized regulations and enforcement rules were formulated, greatly increasing the density of legal norms. After the new law went into effect, the JRF completed a series of "Inmate Rights Handbooks" for inmates to request, continued to provide legal consultation and assistance through correspondence with dozens of inmates each month reporting prison issues, and accumulated material for systemic reform through prison grievance cases. In particular, regarding the operation of the external inspection groups under the new law, we organized volunteer teams, held press conferences to issue commentaries, wrote opinion pieces, and maintained particularly close oversight.
After the Ministry of Justice announced the draft Juvenile Correctional Schools Treatment Enforcement Regulations, we continuously participated in the Ministry of Justice's revision meetings to provide non-governmental amendment opinions and suggestions.
- 2022.1.19 Press Conference: Implementing External Independence and Thorough Transparent Oversight—Annual Health Check of the 2021 External Prison Inspection Groups
- 2022.6.5 Opinion Piece: Letting Sunshine into Prisons: Expectations for the Selection of External Prison Inspection Members
- 2022.10.6 Opinion Piece: External Prison Inspection Groups Must Be More Independent and Proactive
- 2022.9.19 Article: Clarification of Issues Related to Out-of-Prison Programs Following the Police Murder Case
- 2022.10.24 Article: Are We Safe Just Because Out-of-Prison Programs Exclude Major Crimes?
Advocacy for an Independent Criminal Case Review System In Taiwan, if individuals seeking vindication for a final criminal conviction wish to do so, they primarily rely on extraordinary remedy channels such as retrial and extraordinary appeal, but pushing open the doors of the court has always been exceptionally difficult. To increase channels for wrongful conviction relief, the First Division of the Office of the President's National Congress on Judicial Reform discussed in 2017—referencing systems in countries such as the United Kingdom and Norway—recommending that the government study the establishment of a "criminal final case review mechanism" that exercises its powers independently. The JRF established a research group on the independent criminal case review system to study how the Criminal Cases Review Commission established in countries like the United Kingdom and Norway operates, drafted indigenous version revision articles, and continues to engage in rolling revisions and lobbying.
- 2022.7.14 2022 Symposium on the Independent Criminal Case Review System: United Kingdom, Norway, and Taiwan