Op-Ed | The Death of a Judge: Finding Solutions to Judicial Overwork Through Empirical Research

The tragic death of a judge by falling underscores how long-term overwork severely endangers the physical and mental health of judicial personnel. To address the issue of judicial overwork, many advocate for increasing judicial manpower or adjusting case allocation. However, without an empirical foundation, such measures are unlikely to solve the problem effectively.

Judicial overwork is not simply a matter of "insufficient manpower," but rather a systematic issue of how judicial resources can be effectively allocated. This is not a situation unique to Taiwan; many countries face the same difficulties. In promoting Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.3—"Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all"—the United Nations encourages countries around the world to conduct scientific empirical investigations to precisely grasp the public's actual demand for justice. To this end, the OECD and Pathfinders published the manual Improving the monitoring of SDG 16.3.3: Towards better access to justice in 2023, promoting international standards for justice demand indicators.

For example, the "National Legal Needs Survey" conducted in Australia since 2012 found that just 9% of respondents accounted for 65% of total legal problems, demonstrating the concentrated nature of legal issues. In addition, about one-third of Australians experience at least one legal problem within a two-year period, with common issues including consumer disputes, neighborhood disputes, and money problems. Targeting vulnerable groups where legal problems are concentrated, the Australian government has invested administrative resources to provide diverse legal aid services, effectively reducing the judicial burden.

The "Canadian Legal Problems Survey" conducted in Canada in 2021 also revealed a similar situation, showing that about 50% of Canadians had experienced legal problems within the past five years, among which family disputes, consumer disputes, and neighborhood disputes were the most prevalent. The Canadian government strengthened non-judicial alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and enhanced community legal services, successfully reducing judicial caseloads.

Drawing on international experience, investing administrative resources in types of cases that are simple and repetitive yet in high public demand is more effective in solving the problem than simply increasing judicial manpower. We call on President Lai Ching-te to fulfill his campaign promise of establishing a permanent judicial reform committee, making it responsible for localized empirical research on the judiciary, investing administrative resources to support the judiciary in finding solutions to overwork, and achieving the goal of national sustainable development.

▍This op-ed was published on April 18, 2024, in the Liberty Forum: The Death of a Judge – Finding Solutions to Judicial Overwork Through Empirical Research