justice for nothing

Taipei Times - archives: "t is clear that a comprehensive review of the legal system is essential to restoring trust in it. A non-partisan body of legal experts is needed to review the entire system and the way prosecutors, defense counsel, judges and ministerial officials go about their business. The haunting question is: Is Taiwan remotely capable of forming such a group?

We have suggested Taiwan’s legal fraternity refer this case to the International Council of Jurists for investigation. The qualified body’s silence points to, at best, a distinct feeling of embarrassment on the part of even professional victims of such cant. If any competent collection of eminent jurists were to probe this farrago, the fear might be that the self-esteem of every lawyer, prosecutor and judge would be damaged to an unbearable degree as international scorn rains down on the industry.

Taiwan’s notoriously high prosecution rate, widespread flouting of the rights of the accused — no better illustrated than by police parading unconcealed, handcuffed suspects in police stations — the lack of an interface between the legal establishment and the education system, the utter incompetence of Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) and the overall impotence of her predecessors (on both sides of politics), a litany of bizarre and corrosive court judgments, and the general sense of unaccountability to a professional standard has left the system reeling."