Op-Ed | How Much More to Repair the Trauma? Discussing the Recent Amendment to the Criminal Compensation Act from the Perspective of the Su Chien-ho Case

Since the Criminal Compensation Act (formerly known as the Act of Compensation for Wrongful Detentions and Executions) took effect on September 1, 2011, it has provided compensation to many victims of wrongful imprisonment and unjust detention who were ultimately found not guilty. Last Friday (December 15), the President promulgated the newly revised law passed by the Legislative Yuan. The most significant change is the deletion of the "discretionary compensation reduction clause."

Deletion of the "Discretionary Compensation Reduction Clause"

Under the Criminal Compensation Act, the government should pay victims of wrongful detention a compensation of NT$3,000 to NT$5,000 per day.

The so-called "attributability-based reduction clause" refers to Article 7 of the Criminal Compensation Act, which stipulates: "Where a claimant for compensation bears an attributable cause, and based on individual circumstances and general societal consensus, paying compensation according to the standards of Article 6 is manifestly excessive, the amount of compensation may be determined according to the following standards…."

Pursuant to this provision, if a victim of wrongful detention was deemed to have an "attributable cause," their daily compensation would originally be reduced to between NT$1,000 and NT$3,000.

In cases such as taking the blame for someone else's crime, the "attributability-based reduction clause" might perhaps serve a purpose. However, in judicial practice, there have also been highly inappropriate cases of application.

Taking the criminal compensation case of Su Chien-ho, Liu Bing-lang, and Chuang Lin-xun as an example, the court's reason for reducing the three men's compensation was that they had "confessed to the crime" during police interrogations, while the court completely ignored the fact that the three had been "subjected to torture" during those same interrogations! As a result, Su Chien-ho, who suffered wrongful imprisonment for more than 11 years, received a mere NT$5.42 million in criminal compensation!

Fortunately, the recent amendment has repealed Article 7 of the original Criminal Compensation Act. This ensures that future victims will not have to explain that their detention was not their own fault after being wrongly imprisoned and acquitted.

What is the Plight of Cases Subject to "Reduction" Based on "Attributable Causes" Over the Past Decade?

However, how should numerous victims (amounting to over 300 cases), including the three men in the Su Chien-ho case, whose compensation was "reduced" under this provision over the past decade, be remedied?

The answer is that there is no remedy whatsoever.

The spirit of the Criminal Compensation Act should be to confront and address "past mistakes" while providing appropriate compensation. Therefore, during this legislative amendment, civil society groups also called for victims who previously suffered "attributability-based reductions" to be allowed to reapply for compensation, so as to make up for the previously underpaid amounts.

Nevertheless, the aforementioned recommendation was not adopted. The author believes that ignoring this issue can be described as "making mistakes a second, third, and fourth time." The "first mistake" was misjudging innocent people as criminal cases during the original criminal trials. The "second mistake" was improperly reducing compensation during the criminal compensation proceedings, causing secondary harm to the victims. The "third mistake" is missing this legislative amendment and failing to remedy the victims who suffered secondary harm over the past decade.

The harm caused to victims by wrongful convictions and misjudgments will always persist, and what the state can offer is already "justice delayed." Whether mending the fold after the sheep are lost is too late remains to be seen. Yet, if even the "fold" is left with unrepaired gaps that people refuse to fill, then a similarly regrettable gap is likely to remain forever in the hearts of the victims.

*This article was published on 2023/12/24 in Up Media