The 2025 Feel Warmth, Rehabilitate with Love International Academic Seminar is underway through July 16 in Taipei City, underscoring shared commitment to prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
At the event organized by the Taipei City-based Taiwan After-Care Association, Shoji Imafuku, president of the National Association of Offender Rehabilitation Services in Tokyo, and Senior Treatment Consultant Stephen C. Hanson from the U.S. gave keynote speeches on protecting reformed offenders and addiction prevention. Prominent attendees at the July 15 opening ceremony included Minister without Portfolio Lin Ming-hsin and Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien, according to the Ministry of Justice.
Discussions spanned the structure of Japan’s rehabilitation system, building collaborative frameworks for effective recidivism prevention and empowering communities to support reintegration, the ministry added.
In his remarks, Cheng noted that it is as vital to help offenders regain their dignity and life purpose as it is to prevent crimes from happening in the first place. To address this issue, the Executive Yuan is implementing the New Generation Anti-drug Strategy Guidelines and the social safety net project as part of government efforts to forge a robust society.
The event is expected to give Taiwan participants more insight into best practices in Japan and the U.S., thus facilitating the establishment of an effective addiction prevention and rehabilitation service network, the MOJ said. The ministry and the Taiwan After-Care Association pledged to continue helping former offenders live a normal life in line with President Lai Ching-te’s National Project of Hope. (POC-E)
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