As theft is an indictable offense, the police had no choice but to bring in the suspect and hand the case over to prosecutors. They took her to the police station and processed her, and — because a trowel could be considered a lethal weapon — referred the case to prosecutors. Again, the police were obliged to detain her and refer the case to prosecutors, and again the case failed to reach a guilty verdict. Furthermore, many criminal cases that are prosecuted today are over defamation, and there have long been calls for this offense to be decriminalized. There is no reason that defamation cannot be dealt with through compensation in a civil case.

Source: Taipei Times January 30, 2020 16:04 UTC