Statement | Death of a Judge: When Will the Judicial Burden Be Alleviated?

On the 12th of this month, a judge surnamed Li in the Criminal Division of the Shilin District Court tragically passed away after falling from a building, suspected to be due to unbearable work pressure. According to media reports, prior to the incident, Li had sent a farewell text message to his wife saying, "I am very tired," and had previously mentioned experiencing "heavy work pressure." Judge Li had graduated at the top of his class from the Judges Academy and previously served as the designated judge for the "Taiwanese Cambodia" human trafficking case under the National Collegiate trial system, known for being conscientious and outstanding. This news has not only shocked all sectors of society, but also highlighted that the issue of excessive burdens in the current judicial system urgently needs to be addressed.

We express our profound grief and condolences over the death of Judge Li. We are deeply saddened that such a conscientious and responsible judge has thus perished.

Therefore, we solemnly make the following two appeals:

1. The Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Justice must squarely face the issue of excessive judicial burdens, and expeditiously propose concrete measures as well as short-, medium-, and long-term plans to alleviate the workloads of judges and prosecutors.

2. In light of the successive incidents at the Shilin District Court, regarding the unfortunate passing of Judge Li, apart from the currently focused issue of excessive judicial burdens, the causes must still be thoroughly investigated and critically reviewed.

Taiwan's judicial burden is becoming increasingly heavy, and the high-pressure, overworked conditions of judicial officers have been evident since last year, as news continued to emerge of police and prosecutorial agencies being overwhelmed by massive caseloads. Most frontline police and prosecutors are running themselves ragged. Soaring caseloads and severely excessive overtime have even led to reports of prosecutors collapsing and being sent to the hospital, or judges fainting during court sessions—a situation made all the more apparent by the ongoing exodus of prosecutors over the years.

Recently, frontline judges have reflected that the situation of excessive judicial burdens has deteriorated rapidly in recent years, with continuously increasing caseloads and increasingly complex procedural requirements. Furthermore, due to the policy of leaving vacant court interpreter positions unfilled or severe manpower shortages, "judicial assistants" are even required to act concurrently as interpreters during court sessions. This compromises the time that could otherwise be used to assist judges with other matters, representing a severe waste of human resources. Overall, the more conscientious a judge is, the harder it is for them to bear the onslaught of surging cases.

For the past two or three years, the Judicial Reform Foundation has focused on the issue of excessive judicial burdens and proposed a civil version of draft provisions on "alleviating judicial burdens." The goal is to systematically reduce judicial burdens without diminishing the rights of the people, hoping to serve as a catalyst to draw greater attention to this crisis. These include:

1. Procedurally, we call for the simplification of judgments to alleviate judges' cumbersome procedural workloads; regarding the investigation of minor offenses not involving the public interest, prosecutorial discretion should be expanded.
2. In terms of human resources and organization, each judge should be allocated at least one judicial assistant, and judicial assistants should be empowered to draft judgments under the supervision of judges, thereby substantially streamlining the workload of judges.
3. Systemically, the Judicial Yuan should regularly evaluate the rationality of organizational staffing levels and make appropriate adjustments to prevent overloaded workloads from pressing down on judicial officers year after year without relief. At the same time, through concrete practices, the first instance of fact-finding should be strengthened to reduce appeals, thereby lowering the burden on appellate courts and enriching the manpower of the first instance, achieving a win-win outcome for both the judiciary and the public.

The Judicial Reform Foundation previously visited the Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Justice in 2022 to emphasize the importance and necessity of reviewing and simplifying current work, as well as vitalizing procedures and evaluations, rather than solely relying on increasing manpower to alleviate burdens. Now, this tragedy has occurred, and the Taiwan Judges Association has also called upon the Judicial Yuan to carry out relevant reform reviews from a systemic perspective and propose concrete measures to alleviate judges' workloads within one month. Judicial Yuan President Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) has stated that amendments will be pursued to break through the statutory caps on judicial personnel staffing, supplementing manpower such as judges, court clerks, and judicial assistants into trial operations to mitigate judges' workloads.

Meanwhile, regarding prosecutors facing similar dilemmas, the Ministry of Justice should also pay greater attention to this issue. Although the recent addition of "prosecutorial assistants" may provide temporary relief, it is still not a fundamental solution.

This Foundation hereby calls upon the Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Justice that simply increasing manpower is by no means the sole means to alleviate the workload of judicial officers. If unreasonable and inefficient working methods cannot be improved, and judges and prosecutors continue to face enormous pressure in handling cases while finding it difficult to gain a sense of accomplishment, even increasing manpower will fail to retain outstanding judges and prosecutors. In this regard, the Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Justice should listen to the voices of frontline personnel from the perspectives of "alleviating unreasonable burdens" and "simplifying procedures" and actively review the situation, in order to improve the lose-lose scenario where the judiciary and prosecution are overwhelmed and the public cannot enjoy high-quality justice.

Press Contact

Lü Cheng-yen, Attorney-at-Law, Director of the Legal Policy Department, Judicial Reform Foundation
Email: elvin@jrf.org.tw