Liu is heading back home this month. His one-year, eight-month detention at the Taoyuan Reformatory and Training School is coming to an end. Liu was sent to reform school after being tried in Taipei's Juvenile Court for extorting money from his classmates. While at the reformatory, he continued high school and also took a one-year vocational training course to become a certified auto mechanic. With his new qualifications, Liu could easily get a job paying NT$30,000 (US$1,100) a month. But he plans to finish high school first, attending classes near his home. In the eyes of Liu's teachers at the reformatory, he is, as the Chinese phrase goes, like a lost lamb returning home.
Liu's case exemplifies the main tenet underlying Taiwan's juvenile justice system-through education, the lives of wayward youths can be turned around. "We want to help juvenile delinquents, not punish them," says Hung Chang-hung (洪昌宏), chief judge of the Taipei Juvenile Court. "We want to give them a chance to start a new life." As evidence of his philosophy, Hung says, every juvenile sent to the court from July to September this year ended up on probation.
Juvenile courts were first established in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung in 1970 to handle the increasing number of young offenders in the big cities. Later, the island's three other major district courts also set up independent juvenile courts. These handle criminal cases involving twelve to eighteen year olds, ac cording to the Law Governing the Disposition of Juvenile Cases, which was enacted in 1962 and has been revised three times, most recently in 1980. The law also covers "pre-delinquent" juveniles, those who show an inclination to commit serious crimes in the future. These might be teenagers who, for example, associate with gangs or habitual criminals, frequent places where minors are prohibited, carry knives or other weapons, or abuse drugs.
Juvenile court cases come from three main sources—reports from private citizens that a juvenile has broken the law; transfers initiated by a public prosecutor, police department, or other government office; and requests from a child's parent or guardian. First-time offenders, Hung says, are usually reprimanded and sent back home. In more serious cases, a probation officer will investigate the case before the hearing, collecting information on the teenager's character, psychological and physical condition, and family, social, and educational background. After evaluating the probation officer's report, the judge will decide on one of four levels of punishment: weekend counseling sessions, probation, reform school, or prison.
The emphasis, Hung says, is always on rehabilitation. Punishment is therefore not considered the most desirable method for turning juvenile delinquents into contributing members of society. "We always treat them as if they were our younger brothers or sisters," Hung says. "We spend a lot of time teaching them the importance of obeying the law. Like anyone else, they can grow from their mistakes."
Taipei's Juvenile Court also has a more friendly and educational atmosphere than an adult criminal court. During a hearing, the offender's parents or guardian, as well as an appointed court assistant, are all given the opportunity to express their opinions on the case. The public is not allowed to attend.
Wellington L. Koo (顧立雄), an attorney and law professor at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei, thinks the juvenile court should be even more removed from adult court by housing it in a separate building. As an example, he cites Japan, where a family court and juvenile court are set up in a separate building with a more family-oriented atmosphere. "But anyone entering a district court building in Taiwan will feel the solemnity and coldness of the place," Koo says. "He might even see a criminal wearing hand cuffs and fetters. This atmosphere can frighten a youngster. It is not fair to let them undergo this kind of experience." Koo also thinks Taiwan's juvenile courts should put more emphasis on establishing a dialogue between the judge and the juvenile, rather than simply having the judge give a lecture and hand down a punishment.
Probation officers play a vital role in the juvenile justice system, as they are responsible for giving guidance and counseling to their charges during the probation period, which can run from six months to three years. Judge Hung Chang-hung, however, says the probation office is severely understaffed, with only nineteen officers working for the Taipei Juvenile Court. Each of them assumes a heavy workload, handling about 120 cases a month, not including additional counseling work on weekends and investigations before a hearing. To help ease the load, the court also has more than one hundred volunteer probation officers.
Delinquents whose cases are too serious for probation are sent to one of Taiwan's three reform schools, in Taoyuan, Changhua, and Kaohsiung. Each school accommodates about five hundred juveniles, and the one in Changhua accepts both boys and girls.
While the reform schools emphasize order, discipline, social cohesiveness, and the cultivation of good living habits, their primary function is to provide basic education at the junior and senior high school levels, as well as vocational training in fields such as auto mechanics, printing, and graphic design. The schools also provide individual and group counseling.
"Our goal is to make our students unwilling as well as unable to leave the reformatory," says Cheng Mei-yu (鄭美玉), chief of academic affairs at the Taoyuan Reformatory. "I hope our teachers can be like their brothers and sisters." There are now 550 students in the Taoyuan school. In addition, it currently cares for twenty children under twelve, former charges of the Taoyuan Children's Home, which was closed earlier this year because of a lack of qualified teachers.
Huang Jung-jui, director of the Taoyuan Reformatory—"Many of our children are from broken homes and did not get enough care and love."
About 80 percent of the students at the Taoyuan Reformatory are there because of larceny and drug offenses. Just under 6 percent were sent for extortion, and about 2.6 percent are pre-delinquents. According to the school's director, Huang Jung-jui (黃榮瑞), most of the students have some trouble getting used to the school's military-style rules. "Many of our children are from broken homes and did not get enough care and love," he says. "Some have been runaways for a long time, and they've picked up some bad habits."
Academic affairs director Cheng Mei-yu says the school's strict environment, in which the students' daily schedule is highly regulated, can produce quick results. "One student who had been addicted to drugs and was severely under-weight gained thirty kilograms in one month," Cheng says.
Despite its military strictness, the school emphasizes love and understanding as its guiding principles. "Most of our students were underachievers at home and at school," Huang says. "They've experienced a lot of frustration and failure and have lost their confidence. Here we take every opportunity to encourage them." An average class at the Taoyuan Reformatory has sixty students and four teachers. Although the teachers have a heavy load, they try to take the time to give their students more than an academic education. "We also teach them correct moral standards and ask them to do some self-examination," Huang says.
Juveniles can be detained at a reformatory for up to three years. Those who behave well can qualify for early release. Immediate relatives are allowed to visit twice a week, and well-behaved students can return home for three days at Chinese New Year. Liu, who is heading home this month, says: "My parents and brothers have come to see me every weekend. That's been a big encouragement." Compared with some children at the reformatory, Liu is lucky. "Some parents just do not care much about their children," Huang says. "We have to take the initiative to call and ask them to visit."
Taiwan's reform schools focus not only on getting their charges on the right track, but also on helping to reintegrate them into society. In the past, students who graduated from junior or senior high school while at a reformatory received a diploma with the reform school's name on it. Prospective employers who saw the diploma would know they had been juvenile delinquents. Since July 1992, reform schools have set up cooperative programs with nearby public schools, allowing their students to receive diplomas from these schools instead. They can also continue to study at the affiliated school after leaving the reformatory.
Another vestige of reform school life that used to plague students was the photograph on their vocational training certificate. The ultra-short, reform school haircut in the photo was a dead giveaway. Today, reformatories supply their students with a wig before the photo is taken. "They are going to use this certificate for the rest of their lives," Huang says. "A bald head or a crew cut will reveal their background. A wig is a small thing, but it can mean a lot."
Computer class at the Hsinchu Prison—Inmates are given a chance to finish junior high or high school or take vocational training courses.
More serious juvenile delinquents, such as those involved in violent crimes, are sent to the Hsinchu Juvenile Prison. The prison accepts juveniles who are at least fourteen years old. It currently has 754 male and 15 female inmates. According to an in-house survey, about 50 percent of these young criminals come from unhappy or abnormal families. The survey offers the following break down of its inmates: about 23 percent have parents who are separated or divorced, 20 percent have lost one or both parents to death, and 7 percent have parents who are also in prison. "The main reason for juvenile delinquency stems from the family," says Yang Ding-wei (楊定衡), a counselor at the Hsinchu Prison. "The second reason is because these teenagers get involved with gangsters."
The Hsinchu Prison also offers junior high, high school, and vocational training. Each year, ten to twenty prison students pass the high school or college entrance exam. In addition, the prison has adopted the same measures as reformatories in helping juveniles avoid being identified as former delinquents. Those serving time at the Hsinchu Prison can be released on good behavior after serving one-third of their sentences, whereas those at adult prisons must serve at least one-half of their terms. Officials at the prison also seem to take more personal interest in their young in mates. "The biggest joy," Yang says, "is to see a rebellious teenager become a responsible adult and develop an interest in school and even pass the college entrance exam. Some of our former inmates bring their wives and children to see me."
However, some inmates or reform school students return not to visit, but to serve new terms. Despite its emphasis on reintegrating delinquents into society, the juvenile justice system is not always successful. The Taoyuan Reformatory re ports a recidivism rate of 15 to 20 percent, which academic affairs director Cheng Mei-yu considers "not satisfactory, but acceptable." She feels the main reason for recommitment is an inadequate family environment. "We try every way to help our children get back on the right track," she says, "but sometimes after they go back home, their family can't help them. Once we had a child whose term at the school was over, but he asked if he could stay because he had no place else to go."
If a boy who has just been released from reform school is old enough, he can begin to fulfill his required two-year military service. In many cases, this can help keep a former delinquent from returning to a life of crime. Younger teenagers often need a foster home or similar arrangement. Unfortunately, foster homes and halfway houses are in short supply in Taiwan. "Our social welfare organizations cannot handle these cases," Cheng says. "Sometimes this makes us very frustrated." Cheng also feels there is not enough cooperation between social welfare groups and the juvenile justice system: "Only through developing close ties among these related institutions can we save our children."