PCT calls for judicial reform to get rid of "Crocodile judges”

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

3073 Edition

January 17-23, 2011

Headline News



PCT calls for judicial reform to get rid of “Crocodile judges”



Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong, Sam Lee

Written by Lydia Ma



To appease the Taiwanese general public, the ruling KMT government has 
reluctantly agreed to start a series of reforms to revamp judicial laws 
that have never been examined or altered for more than 2 decades. Upon 
submitting a proposal to the Legislative Yuan, the latter gave the new 
legislation a first reading on January 5, 2011. 



Upon learning the bill had passed its first reading in the legislature, 
Alliance of Judges and Prosecutors reported it vehemently disagreed with 
the content of the new bill. It claimed that the bill was ludicrous and 
simply drafted to appease or fool the public.



In recent months, Taiwanese people have lashed out against the ethics of 
judicial officials, including the attitude of judges and the quality of 
their rulings, with many people using terms such as "dinosaur judges" to 
air their disgruntlement.



In response to the outcome of the first reading, Alliance of Judges and 
Prosecutors issued a statement on January 11, 2011, calling for 6 reforms, 
including: 1-Establish an annual overall evaluation of judges, 2-Release 
this evaluation to the public, 3-Create an impartial and autonomous 
evaluation foundation, 4-Create a means for victims of judicial abuse to 
file complaints, 5-End the existing judicial examination system, 6-Provide 
a reasonable guarantee and compensation package for judges.



Commenting on “dinosaur judges”, PCT Church Law Committee Chairman Li 
Sheng-hsiung said that judicial reform is indeed necessary and the country 
must train judges to be more honest and create a fair system where good, 
honest, and impartial judges are selected. 



Li cited countries such as Japan and the United States as examples of 
governments that invest a lot of time and resources in training their own 
judges, and contrasted these with Taiwan, which relies heavily on test 
scores and seniority to determine who is appointed as judge. He added that 
judges in Japan and United States are consequently more mature and 
experienced than their Taiwanese counterparts.



Li also remarked that judges in Taiwan are too easily intimidated or 
manipulated by politicians and the media, prompting some judges to 
pre-determine verdicts before trials begin and others to be biased against 
DPP and in favor of KMT.



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