Group slams plan to promote new lay judge systemBy Chen Yu-fu and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerA Judicial Yuan plan to budget NT$120 million (US$4.15 million) next year for a public marketing campaign to promote a lay judge system is an attempt to mislead society on “wrongly implemented” reforms, a civic group said yesterday. The Taiwan Jury Association, which has been pushing for a jury system instead of the government’s preferred lay judge approach, said the Judicial Yuan should face up to the core judicial reform issues that need to be addressed. The Judicial Yuan should promote impartial trials and improve the judiciary for those working within it, rather than throwing money at “propaganda,” the association said. “If no improvements are made to judicial proceedings, then what is the point of hiring Internet celebrities to promote the system?” he said. Internet Gazette Law Paper (法治時報社) publisher and legal expert Huang Yueh-hung (黃越宏) said that the Judicial Yuan was using taxpayer money to promote its lay judge system, while abandoning a proposed jury system, which the Democratic Progressive Party calls for in its charter.

Source: Taipei Times November 02, 2020 15:56 UTC