Opinion: Do Not Let Those Who Harm Children Hide Behind Time—Criminal Law Reform on the Statute of Limitations Aims to "Shift the Shame"

Taiwan's #MeToo movement kicked off in May 2023 with a political worker speaking out, spreading from politics to media, arts, film and television, the judiciary, sports, campuses, and other fields, and even catalyzing legal reforms in sexual harassment legislation. For example, in July of the same year, during the legislative recess, the Legislative Yuan held two weeks of intensive discussions and rapid legislative amendments through an extraordinary session, completing the amendment bills for the Gender Equity Education Act, the Gender Equality in Employment Act, and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act respectively.

While the Legislative Yuan's expedited passage of legislative amendments in response to the political crisis triggered by the #MeToo movement superficially resolved systemic flaws that previously existed in the three gender equality acts, it also overlooked other issues extending from the #MeToo movement. For example, #MeToo plaintiffs faced judicial harassment by respondents via "retaliatory defamation suits"1, forcing them into silence; or minor survivors were unable to file complaints against perpetrators due to the statute of limitations provisions under the current Article 80 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of China, thereby losing the opportunity to seek judicial justice.

We believe these issues are unavoidable judicial reforms in the post-#MeToo era2. Coincidentally, in August of this year, the Ministry of Justice announced a draft amendment to the statute of limitations under the Criminal Code of the Republic of China, hoping to resolve the judicial dilemma faced by minor survivors. Meanwhile, civil society organizations also proposed a civil-society version of amendment opinions regarding the content of the draft, providing more comprehensive legislative guidance to the Ministry of Justice and the Legislative Yuan to safeguard the judicial rights of minor survivors3.

How to Speak Out About Harm? The Intersectional Dilemma of Minor Survivors

Regarding the provisions on the statute of limitations for "cases of sexual offense victims who are minors" under our current laws, we believe that the application of legal norms failed to fully consider the special circumstances that victims might face at the time of the offense, such as their age, mental state, and objective constraints of their environment.

In other words, sexual offense cases involving minors are often crimes committed by perpetrators who exploit the multiple vulnerabilities of children. Aside from being evaluated as having severe malignancy, consideration must be given to the vulnerable predicament in which minor survivors find it difficult to exercise their right to file a complaint due to their age, psychological state, power-control relationship with the perpetrator, or other environmental factors.

This vulnerable predicament precisely echoes the concept of "trauma-informed" mentioned by Attorney Ts'ai Shang-ch'ien. Attorney Ts'ai has long provided legal assistance to survivors of sexual violence, and even assisted clients in filing a constitutional interpretation petition regarding the "excessively short statute of limitations for minor sexual autonomy violation cases," which was formally accepted by the Constitutional Court last March.

Attorney Ts'ai believes that for victims of sexual violence crimes, trauma-informed is a lengthy process. Traditional social concepts and stereotypes about sex may affect minor survivors' personal understanding of sexual harm, leading them to "be unable to speak, too afraid to speak, live with the trauma, and pretend to live normally."4

The notion of "living with trauma" partially reflects Taiwan's social reality. Although Taiwan still lacks surveys regarding the time it takes for sexual violence survivors to "speak out," The Reporter points out that internal statistics from the Garden of Hope Foundation's Dandelion Counseling Center—the domestic organization exclusively providing psychological counseling services for adult cases of childhood sexual abuse—show that the average time it takes for childhood sexual assault cases to make that first phone call for help is 22 years5.

Furthermore, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Department of Protective Services, there were 9,230 victims in 2024, including 1,099 victims aged 12 and under, and 3,694 victims aged 12–18, with minor survivors accounting for nearly 52%. In other words, 1 out of every 2 sexual violence survivors is a minor. Additionally, cross-analyzing the dimension of gender, among the 4,793 minor survivors, 3,572 are female—meaning 3 out of every 4 minor survivors are female. Moreover, a 2001 [Note: 2021] investigation report by the Control Yuan pointed out6 that victims of sexual assault in disability welfare institutions had the highest proportion among those under 18, and the proportion of sexual assault victims among indigenous children and youth was higher than that among non-indigenous children and youth. Therefore, the issue of minor survivors highlights multiple intersectional dilemmas.

The Modern Women's Foundation also released an "Internet Survey on Help-Seeking Attitudes toward Sexual Violence Incidents" on April 17, 20237, pointing out that as many as 90% of sexual violence victims dared not call the police, and 40% never sought help externally, indicating that the dark figure of unreported crimes may be even far higher than the relevant statistics of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Therefore, we believe that if the current provisions on the commencement of the statute of limitations are applied—namely, starting from the time the crime was "consummated" by the "perpetrator"—it will result in inadequate protection or obvious unfairness to minor survivors.

Shifting the Shame: The #MeToo Voices as the Driving Force for Judicial Reform

Although the Constitutional Court accepted Attorney Ts'ai Shang-ch'ien's constitutional interpretation petition last year, and the Judicial Reform Foundation also submitted an amicus curiae brief expressing constitutional opinions on the statute of limitations for minors, it is regrettable that the Constitutional Court's operations have stalled due to amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act and vacancies among Justices. It is difficult for us to expect the Constitutional Court to hear this case in the near future to pursue judicial justice for minor survivors.

However, the stall of the Constitutional Court does not mean that the opportunity for parliamentary legislative reform has likewise vanished. Recently, the Ministry of Justice's announcement of the draft amendment to the statute of limitations under the Criminal Code of the Republic of China is a legislative opportunity, and simultaneously an important juncture for us to look back and reflect on the hasty legislation by the Congress driven by the political crisis triggered by the #MeToo movement.

Additionally, in September last year, a shocking sexual assault case occurred in Avignon, France, drawing international attention. The victim, Gisèle Pelicot, having been violated countless times by her husband and strangers, ultimately chose to bravely expose her experience and voluntarily waived her right to a closed-door trial in sexual assault cases, wanting to tell the world: "Shame must change sides, moving from the victim to the perpetrator," meaning shame must change sides.

Therefore, the legislative opportunity presented by the Ministry of Justice's announcement of the draft amendment to the statute of limitations under the Criminal Code of the Republic of China may also serve as an opportunity to reflect on the predicament where, under the influence of patriarchal structures, survivors fear exposing their sexual violence experiences and worry about being blamed, stigmatized, and even feeling ashamed when opening up about their intimate, private relationships.

We advocate that the reform of the criminal statute of limitations should become the starting point for society to overturn shame. In the past, surviving children often stood helpless in silence and trauma, and by the time they could speak out, those who harmed children could hide behind time. Thus, the reform of the statute of limitations is not only a response to the collective outcry of the #MeToo movement, but also an important step in confronting "trauma-informed." Through legislative amendments, minor survivors no longer need to blame themselves for "living with trauma," and shame can thus be shifted in the right direction—borne by the perpetrators rather than carried by the victims.

Although civil groups hold differing amendment opinions regarding the Ministry of Justice's draft amendment—for instance, in terms of legislative technique, criminal law reform of the statute of limitations should amend the impediment grounds listed in Article 83 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of China rather than the commencement provisions of Article 80, so as to conform to the design logic of criminal law provisions; regarding the types of crimes subject to the suspension of the statute of limitations, it should not be limited to the definition of "sexual assault crimes" in Article 2 of the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act, but should also include the crimes of forcing minors to engage in sexual intercourse or obscenity with others under the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act; and whether amendments to the statute of limitations must adopt the principle of retroactive leniency in accordance with the principle of legality also leaves room for debate—

nevertheless, the fact that the Criminal Code of the Republic of China has not established special statute of limitations provisions for minor sexual offense cases is recognized by the Ministry of Justice, legislators, and civil groups alike as a serious legislative deficiency. As the Warm Sunshine Association, which assists sexual violence survivors, pointed out in a press conference last year: "Over the past 19 years, a total of 1,040 victims have had their complaints dismissed without prosecution after filing charges because the statute of limitations had expired.9" This legislative deficiency has left minor survivors with nowhere to turn for help in criminal proceedings.

Finally, we call upon the Ministry of Justice to accelerate the completion of research and deliberation on the criminal law reform of the statute of limitations, and the Legislative Yuan should also actively schedule the draft amendment to the statute of limitations for review during this session, while holding relevant public hearings to broadly incorporate the amendment opinions of civil groups, thereby completing the legal reform of the statute of limitations and no longer letting those who harm children hide behind time.

Notes

1. For instance, perpetrators suing victims through the crime of defamation under Article 310 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of China or defamation of reputation under Article 184 of the Civil Code; for relevant discussions, refer to Lin Ch'eng-ch'ing, Chuang Tzu-hsuan, Chou Yu-hsiu, Lin Chun-yi, Is the Law Standing on the Side of the Egg? Domestic and Foreign Investigations and Reflections on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP)
   
2. Judicial Reform Foundation Press Release, Judicial Supervision and Challenges in the Post-#MeToo Era
   
3. Judicial Reform Foundation Statement, "Young Victims Should Not Be Deprived of the Opportunity to Pursue Justice" Civil-Society Version of Draft Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republic of China and Enforcement Law of the Criminal Code of the Republic of China
   
   
4. Ts'ai Shang-ch'ien, Protecting Children, Filing Constitutional Interpretations for Love: Walking a Survivor's Path to Justice
   
5. The Reporter, Excluded Forever by Justice Once Past the Statute of Limitations? Childhood Sexual Assault Survivors Hope to Knock Open the Narrow Door of Justice via Constitutional Interpretation
   
6. General Investigation Research Report on "Discussion on the Government's Implementation Effectiveness in Preventing Child and Youth Sexual Assault Cases" Proposed by Control Yuan Members Chi Hui-jung, Wang Mei-yu, Chang Chu-fang, and Yeh Ta-hua.
   
7. Modern Women's Foundation, 90% of Sexual Violence Victims in Taiwan Dare Not Call the Police, 40% Never Sought External Help
   
8. Garden of Hope Foundation, Shame Must Change Sides
   
9. The News Lens, 1,040 Sexual Assault Victims Filed Complaints Over the Past 19 Years But Were Not Prosecuted Due to Expired Statute of Limitations; Survivors File Constitutional Interpretation Hoping for Legal Reform
   

＊Full text published on Sep. 19, 2025 at The News Lens