New “jury panel” proposal will be mere rubber stamp for “dinosaur” judges, says legislator

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

3127 Edition

January 30~February 5, 2012

Headline News

New “jury panel” proposal will be mere rubber stamp for “dinosaur” judges, says 
legislator

Reported by Simon Lin and Lin Yi-ying

Written by Lydia Ma

In response to allegations that many judges in Taiwan have too much liberty and 
suspicions that they have accepted bribes in controversial rulings, the 
Judicial Yuan proposed a series of reforms on January 11, 2012, which includes 
a “Jury System” pilot program. The purpose of this new jury system is to allow 
the public limited participation in the trial process and thus boost the 
credibility of the Judicial Yuan, which has been derided of fostering “dinosaur 
judges”.

However, this new system was met with concern by DPP legislator Tien Chiu-chin, 
a Christian, who believes that these reforms are flawed. Tien underscored that 
the proposed new system will not only fail to create a real jury panel, but 
will also act as a mere rubber stamp for corrupt “dinosaur” judges.

Tien said that the proposed jury system is different from European or American 
jury systems in that judges in Taiwan will still influence and interfere with 
the verdict of the jury, as the latter will function more like a group of 
observers asked to give their opinions. Hence, it is only by adopting the 
European or the American jury system, where members of the jury come to a 
decision independently and the judge merely announces the verdict, that there 
can be genuine judicial reform in Taiwan.

In related news, a petition nicknamed “Reform the Supreme Court and get rid of 
hotbeds for dinosaur judges” sponsored by Taipei District Court Judge Lin 
Meng-huang and Yang Kun-chiao, which began on December 26, 2011, has so far 
garnered the support and signature of 518 out of 1,888 justices in Taiwan. The 
petition states that grassroots-level justices should elect the Supreme Court 
Chief Justice because they would be better equipped to select a good candidate 
for the job.

Lin and Taoyuan District Court Judge Chien Chien-jung told the media that the 
Supreme Court decides matters ranging from the interpretation of laws and their 
application to getting rid of judges’ performance appraisal systems . The 
selection of district court justices and President of the Supreme Court is also 
decided by the Supreme Court, but biased Supreme Court justices, who tend to 
choose candidates that align more with their views., have marred this process 
Hence, judicial reform at all levels of the judiciary is necessary and 
courageous leadership is needed to initiate and oversee such a reform.

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