Taiwan Association for Victims of Crime Protection Urges the Passage of 7 Concluding Observations for the Crime Victim Rights Protection Act

1. The nature of crime victim compensation prior to the amendment was "state subrogation"; therefore, in cases where criminal acts resulted in an acquittal, victims faced the predicament of the state seeking reimbursement of compensation. For victims, this is undeniably secondary victimization caused by the system. In line with the new law redefining the nature of crime victim compensation as "state responsibility," it is stipulated that after the passage of the new law, where victims are required to return crime victim compensation because a criminal act was judged as an acquittal by the court under the pre-amended Crime Victim Protection Act, the subsequent handling methods shall be properly dealt with in accordance with the intent of the new law.
2. Referring further to the amendment reasons for Article 60 of the Executive Yuan's draft, cases meeting the conditions of this Article numbered 3 in 2018 and 6 in 2019, meaning the volume of cases is not overwhelming. To ensure that the protection of crime victims' rights and interests does not suffer severe deficiencies due to the transition between the old and new laws, the Ministry of Justice should list the handling methods for relevant individual cases and report them to the Legislative Yuan.

1. Although Article 23 prior to the amendment of this Act contained provisions similar to Article 57, Paragraph 2, over the 24 years since the formulation of that article in 1998, crime victim compensation has never been adjusted in accordance with the aforesaid provisions.
2. To enable the amount of crime victim compensation to be properly adjusted in response to factors such as inflation and price indices, the competent authority shall hold regular annual meetings and extensively solicit opinions from all sectors.

Pursuant to Article 26 of this Act, protection institutions and branch offices shall assist victims or their families in obtaining information on criminal cases, and shall provide services including but not limited to the following:
(1) To protect the safety of victims, they shall proactively inform them in an appropriate manner of information such as the perpetrator's escape, parole, or completion of sentence.
(2) To protect the victim's right to know, they shall proactively inform them in an appropriate manner of the progress of the case and the opportunity to express opinions (such as expressing opinions on the prosecutor's sentencing recommendation prior to the conclusion of the investigation).

1. During the review on January 5, 2022, the Judicial Yuan stated that current informants and victims could already actively apply through the evidence preservation provisions of Article 219-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to safeguard their rights. Subsequently, Chief Convener KO CHIEN-MING also mentioned that this part could be handled through concluding observations. To strengthen the relevant operations of evidence preservation under the current Article 219-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, these concluding observations are proposed.

2. Article 35, Paragraph 5 of the Crime Victim Rights Protection Act stipulates the mutatis mutandis application of criminal protection orders to cases of sexual privacy image infringement. However, as an alternative measure to detention, its requirements are limited to the existence of grounds for detention and an application by the prosecutor, and it cannot be applied for in a timely manner by the victim. Under current judicial practice, although Article 219-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that victims may apply to the prosecutor or court for search and seizure during the investigation, such practices are rare in actual operation, and the proportion of approvals by the courts is also low. Given that cases of infringement upon victims' sexual privacy under Chapter 28-1 of the Criminal Code carry a high possibility of expanding the infringement of victims' rights due to the high transmissibility of sexual images if compulsory measures are not taken immediately, it further demonstrates the need for victims to apply under the aforesaid provisions to urge public authority to prevent the continuation or expansion of the infringement in a timely manner.

3. To ensure that victims can urge public authority to intervene in a timely manner at the very beginning and prevent damage and the expansion of rights infringement, it is hereby urged that the Ministry of Justice submit a written report on the application of Article 219-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to digital sexual violence incidents.