Nearly a third of Taiwan’s judges view peer selection of the Supreme Court chief justice as an important step in reforming the country’s judiciary, according to a petition released Jan. 4.
The signature drive, which is supported by close to 28 percent of Taiwan’s 1,888 judges, was launched Dec. 26, 2011. It is seen by observers as an important step in boosting the judiciary’s independence and improving the quality of rulings.
“We hope this measure will eliminate insensitive decisions by dragon judges and reflect modern trends when it comes to rulings,” said petition initiator Lin Meng-huang, a Taipei District Court judge.
By dragon judges, Lin was referring to those who made lenient rulings in child molestation cases. These decisions brought activists onto the streets of Taipei in July last year for a mass demonstration.
“I call on all ROC presidential candidates to support our initiative for judges to propose candidates for chief justice following the current appointment’s retirement next month.”
According to the Judicial Personnel Act, the chief justice should be chosen by the ROC president from Supreme Court judges or justices of the Constitutional Court.
Lin said that dragon judges, as well as recent bribery scandals among the judiciary, are influencing lower-level magistrates into blindly following precedent and narrowing their scopes of assessment. This ensures judges remain in favor when it comes to promotions.
Judicial Yuan President Rai Hau-min said he respects the actions of local judges, adding that a comprehensive review of the current judiciary personnel system is under way. (JSM)