Wrongful convictions are not merely individual cases, but issues concerning families and society. Throughout the JRF's long-term work in wrongful conviction rescue, we have witnessed endless and lingering pain. If even those who have been exonerated find it difficult to let go, what about those who remain unexonerated?

In 2010, Lai Ting-fu was wrongfully imprisoned after being accused of corruption. Released on parole three and a half years later, his daughter, Lai Ho-ying, picked up a camera to document her father's story in order to clear his name and restore his innocence. After seven years of filming and editing through nine versions, the documentary records not only the injustice, but also the bitterness of the Ch'un-p'u family searching for a way out of the darkness.

Ch'un-p'u symbolizes the home built together by Lai Ting-fu and his wife, Ch'un-yeh. Yet a wrongful conviction descended like a meteorite, devastating this land of happiness until vegetation could no longer grow.

Through "Ch'un-p'u's Family Letters," we hope to let everyone see the real stories of judicial victims. We also invited Hung Ming-ju, an attorney and JRF board member, to moderate the post-screening discussion, featuring director Lai Ho-ying and senior social worker Li Wan-ching as panelists. We invite everyone to join hands and walk forward together on the road of wrongful conviction rescue.

"Ch'un-p'u's Family Letters" Trailer

Hung Ming-ju Attorney, JRF Board Member

Lai Ho-ying Director of "Ch'un-p'u's Family Letters"

Li Wan-ching (Clinical) Senior Social Worker, Ph.D. Candidate at National Chi Nan University Graduate Institute of Counseling and Guidance

• Time: 03/02 (Sat.) 13:00-16:30
• Location: JRF Taichung Office

The seminar has concluded

In July 2023, following the Supreme Court's Criminal Ruling No. 638 (2023), which dismissed the interlocutory appeal, Ch'en Ching-k'ai's third criminal retrial failed once again.

Thirteen years have passed. Even though civil courts have explicitly stated in judgments that the court should not infer whether a defendant's vision is impaired based on external demeanor and behavior, and that Ch'en Ching-k'ai indeed suffered "reduced blood perfusion in the bilateral occipital lobes of the brain" and "damage to the cerebral visual cortex" due to a traffic accident; and even though Taipei Medical University evaluated Ch'en Ching-k'ai and confirmed him to be a blindsight patient through tests such as "electroencephalography (EEG/ERP)" and "functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)", the criminal court in this case still remains unwilling to adopt the results of the scientific appraisal.

Why is the court unwilling to believe that Ch'en Ching-k'ai is blind? Can someone who can play baseball, play basketball, run, and dance simply not be blind? For the second lecture of the "Beyond the Abyss | On the Road to Wrongful Conviction Rescue" series, we have invited wrongful conviction petitioner Ch'en Ching-k'ai himself to share with everyone how blindness does not equal disability. We have also invited Ma Ch'ien-ya, former executive secretary of the volunteer legal team for the "Ch'en Ching-k'ai Case", to moderate, alongside Chien Kai-lun, a volunteer attorney for the "Ch'en Ching-k'ai Case", and Chen Hsi-yin, CEO of the Taiwan Media Center for Science and Technology, as panelists to discuss scientific communication in the courtroom with everyone.

The volunteer legal team is currently still actively assisting Ch'en Ching-k'ai in seeking exoneration, and we invite everyone to join hands and walk forward together on the road of wrongful conviction rescue.

Ma Ch'ien-ya Former Executive Secretary of the Volunteer Legal Team for the "Ch'en Ching-k'ai Case"

Chien Kai-lun Volunteer Attorney for the "Ch'en Ching-k'ai Case"

Chen Hsi-yin CEO, Taiwan Media Center for Science and Technology

Ch'en Ching-k'ai Wrongful Conviction Petitioner

• Time: 04/13 (Sat.) 13:30-16:00
• Location: JRF Taichung Office

The seminar has concluded

• From 2014 to 2021, among the 393 investigation reports issued by the Judiciary and Prison Administration Committee of the Control Yuan, only 7 had submitted or obtained judicial relief.
• Since the establishment of the Conviction Review Committee of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office in 2017, as of June 2021, only 47 cases were accepted and 35 cases were concluded, with only 2 cases petitioning for a retrial.
• Taiwan's High Courts accept an average of about 1,300 retrial petitions per year, with an approval rate for opening retrials of only about 0.83%.

Extraordinary remedies such as retrials and extraordinary appeals are doors that we must try every possible way to push open in order to exonerate current criminal wrongful conviction cases in Taiwan, yet they remain stubbornly difficult to open.

In view of the difficulty in initiating extraordinary remedies, the first working group of the Presidential Office's Judicial Reform National Congress reached a resolution in 2017, suggesting that our government should reference foreign models to establish a "criminal final judgment review mechanism" that exercises its powers independently.

However, how should the boundaries of judicial independence be drawn amidst this? Is establishing an independent wrongful conviction review commission a cure for ensuring unobstructed relief channels, or does it interfere with judicial independence and infringe upon people's fundamental rights?

This lecture, titled "Another Path to Wrongful Conviction Rescue," will invite Lin Chih-chung, attorney and convener of the Wrongful Conviction Rescue Special Group at the JRF Taichung Office, to moderate. It will also feature Lin Yung-sung, attorney and JRF standing board member, as the speaker, and Lo Shih-hsiang, attorney, JRF standing executive committee member, and CEO of the Taiwan Association for Innocence, as a panelist, to discuss the possibility of an independent wrongful conviction review commission in Taiwan.

Lin Chih-chung Attorney, JRF Standing Executive Committee Member

Lin Yung-sung Attorney, JRF Standing Board Member

Lo Shih-hsiang JRF Standing Executive Committee Member, CEO of the Taiwan Association for Innocence

• Time: 06/01 (Sat.) 14:30-16:30
• Location: JRF Taichung Office
  Both physical and online attendance options are available. Physical attendance is limited to 40 participants; live-stream links will be sent after registration for online participants.

The seminar has concluded; please proceed to the seminar record

In June 2023, the JRF cooperated for the first time with the Chinese Debate Promotion Association (CDPA), the Wenhua High School Debate Club, the Taichung Bar Association, the Changhua Bar Association, and the Nantou Bar Association to organize the Judicial Reform Cup National High School Debate Competition. This tournament incorporated the judicial human rights issues currently exhibited at the JRF Taichung Office and received widespread acclaim.

With the JRF approaching its 30th anniversary since establishment, wrongful conviction rescue has always been the JRF's oldest and most core mission. To let the public see the real circumstances of the innocent, and to focus on unexonerated cases and the systemic difficulties encountered on the path to exoneration, the JRF held the "[Beyond the Abyss | On the Road to Wrongful Conviction Rescue] Special Exhibition" on March 1, 2024.

Debate is a clash of languages and a collision of wisdom. In order to leverage the wisdom of debaters during the debate competition to better understand wrongful conviction cases and the unfulfilled aspects of judicial reform and institutional design behind them, the "2024 Judicial Reform Cup National High School Debate Competition" will be grandly held on July 6 and July 7, 2024, with the motion "Our country should establish an independent criminal wrongful conviction review commission," inviting outstanding teams from various schools to participate!

On this long and winding road of wrongful conviction rescue,
Some innocent people had their wrongful names cleared long ago, while others remain trapped behind bars.
Some who once sat in the audience listening to the innocent share their experiences are now standing beside them to defend their innocence.

As the Judicial Reform Foundation approaches its 30th anniversary, wrongful conviction rescue has consistently been one of our primary and most core missions. Wrongful convictions have never been merely stories on the news or in the media; they are people, matters, and things surrounding us that we can neither walk away from nor let go.

For the 2024 JRF Summer Student Camp, we will invite innocent individuals who have been exonerated after years of injustice, innocent individuals who remain trapped behind bars yet steadfastly struggle, as well as volunteer attorneys who have dedicated many years to assisting numerous wrongful conviction cases, to share those past people, matters, and things.
Through a mock trial, we will also lead everyone to personally experience the hardships of judicial adjudication and personally participate in the social rescue of wrongful convictions.

Do you want to know why innocent people become victims? Are you curious about how the JRF assists the innocent? If you hope to get closer to the reality behind criminal trial practice, we invite you to join us in soaring toward the sun on the road of wrongful conviction rescue!

Article 17 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act stipulates that persons apprehended for narcotics offenses who "disclose the source of the narcotics, thereby leading to the apprehension of other principal offenders or accomplices" may have their sentences "mitigated or exempted."

Centering around the design of this provision, much like the petitioner in Constitutional Court Judgment No. 2 (2023)—who disclosed their source up the supply chain yet was not granted sentence mitigation, and is disputing what constitutes "disclosing the source of the narcotics" and what criteria constitute "thereby leading to apprehension, etc."—there are also wrongful conviction petitioners like Hsiao Ming-yüeh, Chou Ts'ang-chi, and others whom the JRF has rescued long-term, who were framed and wronged because other individuals apprehended for narcotics wanted to strive for sentence mitigation.

Is the statutory design of Article 17 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act a powerful tool for state organs to combat drug crimes or a breeding ground for them, or is it a wrongful conviction machine where marginalized people wrong the innocent in order to seek sentence mitigation? The lecture titled "The Wrongful Conviction Machine Hidden in the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act" from the "Beyond the Abyss | On the Road to Wrongful Conviction Rescue" series has invited attorney Tsai I-cheng to moderate, Li I-t'ing, attorney and director of Jui-i Law Firm who is the agent for the petitioner of Constitutional Court Judgment No. 2 (2023), to speak, and Ch'en Yü-an (Attorney Pamao), managing attorney at Ch'üan-ch'i Law Firm, as a panelist.

On the road of wrongful conviction rescue, you and I move forward together.

Tsai I-cheng Volunteer Attorney for the JRF Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act Amendment Study Group

Li I-t'ing Agent for the Petitioner of Constitutional Court Judgment No. 2 (2023), Director of Jui-i Law Firm

Ch'en Yü-an Attorney Pamao, Managing Attorney at Ch'üan-ch'i Law Firm

• Time: 07/20 (Sat.) 14:00-16:00
• Location: JRF Taichung Office
  Both physical and online attendance options are available. Physical attendance is limited to 40 participants; live-stream links will be sent after registration for online participants.

The seminar has concluded; please proceed to the seminar record