Future Directions
Future Directions
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Policy Objectives and Priorities of Ministry of Justice in 2024
Ministry of Justice is Taiwan’s competent authority for judicial affairs including prosecutorial administration, protection of crime victims, correction, integrity policy, administrative enforcement, legal consultation, legal affairs of the Executive Yuan, and training of judiciary. The affiliated agencies are divided into five systems: prosecution, investigation, integrity policy, correction, and administrative enforcement, and each performs duties in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations.
In order to maintain equity and justice, the Ministry will continue to implement judicial reforms, combat narcotics, improve anti-fraud strategies, accelerate prison reform, implement judicial protection, expand mutual legal assistance, establish an incorruptible government, enhance human rights protection, promote transitional justice, improve and modernize the judicial system and strengthen administrative enforcement. Additionally, the policy plan will also focus on the implementation of the judicial reform resolutions, tracing the source of drugs and curbing re-offenders, improving the efficiency of fraud punishment, and making good use of innovative technology to enhance efficiency, so as to jointly protect the well-being of people and create a healthy home for generations.
According to the 2024 policy guidelins and budget quota of Executive Yuan and the current social status , Ministry of Justice enacts 2024 administrative plan as follows:
1. Promote judicial reform policies, improve the quality of forensic evidence, and enhance the efficiency of prosecutorial work with AI assistance.
- Continue to implement judicial reform policies, promote the formalizing of regulations governing the administrative case-conclusion system, reshape the mechanism for the entry and training of judicial officers, construct a robust control system for seized evidence, integrate law enforcement institutions and systems, enhance the digitization of seized evidence management, utilize the judicial alliance chain to ensure the authentication via identity and chain of custody of digital evidence.
- Establish advanced databases and digitization of epidemiological information, develop forensic medicine resources to improve the quality of scientific evidence, advocate the inception of the national forensic science academy to spearhead forensic science policies, formulate the standard operating procedures for forensic science in our country and strengthen the ability of forensic science to discover the truth.
- Promote the intelligent transformation of smart legal services, build an innovative service environment with digital technology for case investigations, strengthen the information security and protection system, and optimize the efficiency of legal administration; use AI to assist public prosecutors in identifying and marking evidence of the case, as well as sorting and analyzing the case file and making recommendations to improve the efficiency of prosecutors in reviewing case files, formulating strategies, and preparing for debates and arguments, so as to achieve the goal of refined public prosecutions.
- Expansion (relocation) and internal revamps of subordinate agencies and offices and planning for facilities procurement to enhance the overall effectiveness of legal administration.
2. Implement the national review mechanisms for human rights, enhance human rights and transitional justice, and improve civil and administrative legal systems.
- Actively implement and examine the Concluding Observations and Recommendations outlined in the international review of the Third National Report on the Two Covenants, and conduct a legal review of the Two Covenants; implement Taiwan’s first National Human Rights Action Plans and align it with international human rights norms.
- Enhance human rights education on the Two Covenants, increase awareness in human rights, strengthen dialogues with non-governmental organizations, expand domestic and foreign human rights exchanges, share and learn from experience in human rights protection; continue to promote transitional justice, and redress judicial and administrative wrongs.
- Provide consultation opinions on laws and regulations to different government agencies, organize legal advocacy campaigns to improve the civil code and administrative law systems.
3. Implement the anti-drug strategy and action program, enhance strategy to crackdown on frauds, and seize and confiscate illegal proceeds.
- Implement “Action Plan of the New-Generation Anti-Drug Strategy (Phase 2)”, trace the source of drugs, demonstrate the Government's zero-tolerance resolution on illicit drugs, achieve the overall anti-drug goal of "cutting off the three streams of drugs", strengthen the seizure and investigation of illegal proceeds. Request prosecutors to freeze financial accounts or apply to the court for seizure of proceeds for cases if the proceeds are found to be related to drug crimes during the financial investigation.
- Promote the “Drug Users Recidivism Prevention and Advancement Program”, implement measures such as consistent protection, handling and transfer of inmates, integration of social rehabilitation services, establishment of a friendly and accepting environment, and child and adolescent protection, in order to reduce the recidivism rate of the drug population; improve the examinations of new psychoactive substances (NPS) , reduce the harm of NPS , and work together to prevent the proliferation of NPS.
- Crack down on frauds and crime with precision; strengthen horizontal coordination across ministries, agencies and domains, and actively integrate law enforcement agencies to investigate and combat frauds; promote legislative amendments with "expanding punishment" and "increasing liability of crimes" as the core. Enhance regulatory density, conduct comprehensive evaluation of the nature and the maliciousness of the crime and actual harmfulness of the behavior, so as to thoroughly protect the people's personal, liberty and property interests.
- Strengthen the eradication of organized crime, prevent damage to land conservation, crack down on various types of economic, financial, food safety and other crimes, seize and confiscate illegal criminal proceeds, cut off the root causes of criminals, and further eradicate the causes of crimes.
4. Improve the anti-money laundering system, promote international and cross-strait judicial cooperation; and strengthen national security prevention and protection.
- Impose regulations on common types of money laundering activities; prevent criminals from using financial and non-financial institutions to launder illegal proceeds; keep abreast of changes in international anti-money laundering regulations in a timely manner; strengthen the capacity for international financial intelligence exchange to improve law enforcement efficiency; promote domestic mechanisms for anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing; enhance the awareness of anti-money laundering risks in the public and private sectors; endeavour to sign memorandum of understanding (MOU) with foreign countries on the exchange of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing intelligence, improve the anti-money laundering system; in line with international norms and gradually localized to enhance law enforcement efficiency and effectively combat money laundering crimes.
- Continue to promote the negotiation and signing of mutual judicial assistance agreements, strengthen international judicial cooperation, pragmatically expand international and cross-strait cooperation on mutual legal assistance in civil and criminal matters, and build a diversified cooperation network; establish an international and cross-strait cooperation model to combat cross-border crimes, jointly crack down on illegal activities, and enhance cross-strait cooperation in fighting crime; improve the legal system of mutual judicial assistance and study relevant regulations.
- Build a strict security protection network; improve security prevention and protection work; investigate, trace the source and prevent false information; strengthen detection capabilities to preemptively prevent and uncover foreign espionage or other non-traditional security hazards in order to maintain social stability; prevent the infiltration and intervention by foreign espionage ; investigate and punish individuals or organizations that intend to endanger national security and social stability; prevent the theft of high-tech trade secrets in order to maintain the competitive advantage of the country's high-tech industry.
5. Utilize technological advancements in prison administration, improve correctional treatment models, and supplement professional personnel.
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Plan a pilot program for technology-assisted monitoring of inmates in correctional facilities and utilize remote sensing technology to strengthen tracking of inmate movements, reduce incidence of inmate escape and enhance timely response capabilities when incidents occur; continue to promote various convenient services, such as mobile visitation systems and online service websites, develop a digital account and supply service system for inmates to provide accessible services and facilitate the remittance of funds in custody.
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Conduct an inventory assessment of the current situation of each correctional institution and deliberate on the treatment for different types of inmates to provide appropriate rehabilitation; combine diverse skill training, learning, and practical work to strengthen reintegration resources for inmates, assist in post-release employment and stable self-reliance in society through gradual workplace learning, in order to reduce the chances of recidivism.
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Build an expertise in judicial/correctional psychological and social treatment, continuously seek to establish personnel such as psychologists, social workers, and case managers in correctional facilities to promote professional and individualized correctional treatment and development; promote the expansion and renovation of correctional institutions to provide a reasonable holding space for inmates and alleviate the overcrowding in correctional institutions; continue to improve the care of inmates, improve the quality of water supply and treatment for inmates, so as to protect the human rights of inmates and enhance Taiwan’s image in prison management.
6. Integrate resources to promote community treatment, strengthen rehabilitation protection, victim protection services and related crime prevention and legal promotion.
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Establish a professional team, expand the resource network, integrate the systems of rehabilitation protection, health administration, labor administration, social administration, and police administration to promote a diversified network of community corrections; actively connect community resources, assist the protected person to reintegrate into society, implement community reintegration work to achieve the goal of social safety net.
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Implement various new legal regulations and supporting measures under the "Act on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Crime Victims", improve the system for protecting the rights and interests of victims in Taiwan, and improve service quality and empathetic assistance in protection work.
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Implement programs and measures related to the prevention of juvenile delinquency, combine civil society organizations and social resources to popularize legal education for citizens.
7. Independently implement the United Nations Convention against Corruption, continue to promote the legal system of smart anti-corruption and whistle-blowers, and improve the Government Procurement Integrity Platform.
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Implement the United Nations Convention against Corruption to align with international trends in clean government, strengthen the efficiency of clean governance, and put into practice the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the Concluding Observations of the International Review of the ROC’s Second Report under the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
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Strengthen horizontal coordination for corruption cases, encourage exposing corruption by whistleblowers, and promote legislation to protect whistleblowers, utilize information technology to improve the efficiency of producing communication monitoring transcripts, enhance investigation activities, strengthen overall anti-corruption efforts, and increase the conviction rate for corruption cases.
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Improve the anti-corruption legal system, strengthen anti-corruption efforts in the public and private sectors, and promote the Government Procurement Integrity Platform; advocate ethical values and a culture of integrity in the public and private sectors, implement the Sunshine Act, and establish a consensus on zero tolerance for corruption.
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Conduct special investigations on the government affairs which are under high corruption risks to uncover corruption and unscrupulous activities, strengthen measures to safeguard official secrets and institutional security, and make every effort to protect national official secrets and prevent incidents of harm and sabotage.
8. Promote technology-enabled enforcement measures, improve procedures for caring for the disadvantaged, and enhance the administrative efficiency of service delivery.
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Implement electronic enforcement procedures, including digital orders for seizure of savings
accounts, collections, revocation, etc., and develop and deploy a data exchange platform to simplify operational processes and reduce manpower burden, promote a diversity of payment methods such as collection through the four major convenience store chains and banks, postal services, credit card payments, and virtual account payments, to improve payment convenience for the public.; improve "Remote Viewings for Judicial Auctions" by integrating “360-degree panoramic images”, “VR equipment”, and “aerial photography drones” to clearly capture the appearance of the properties and the surrounding environment, in order to enhance service quality and efficiency, and thereby improve enforcement performance. -
Adopt forceful enforcement measures such as restricting the departure of debtors with huge amount of debt or obligors who deliberately defaulting on payments, applying to the court for arrest or collection, and issuing injunctions orders, so as to urge the obligors to fulfill their financial payment obligations under public law and realize the value of justice, promotes various enforcement projects and strengthens cross-agency cooperation and contact to achieve the important goal of educating the public to abide by the law and prevent violations, and to enhance the function of legal compliance.
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Actively care for vulnerable obligors who are in trouble in life, conduct care visits and referral measures, assist in providing various social welfare assistance information, and use leniency enforcement methods to help them n dealing with their financial payment obligations under public law; strengthen the education of enforcement personnel training to ensure compliance with relevant legal procedures and compliance with the principle of proportionality.