Sentencing Reform In Taiwan
About the Presentation:
In Taiwan, judges choose the sentence defendants will ultimately receive. They have the freedom and full discretion to select a wide range of sentences provided by the Criminal Code of the Republic of China. Due to this discretion, disparities among judges have become a major issue in the Taiwan sentencing system. To improve consistency, create uniformity and iron out disparities among judges, the Judicial Yuan in Taiwan released sentencing principles and established online sentencing reference systems. The Judicial Yuan and the Taiwan Supreme Court both proclaim the principles and online systems are advisory (not mandatory) and a trial judges' departure from the online systems are not legitimate or reasonable grounds for appeal. Judge Yu will introduce the current sentencing system in Taiwan and demonstrate the online sentencing reference systems. Furthermore, he will discuss the influence of the principles and online systems and share his thoughts about further measures for improvement.
About the Speaker:
Ming-Xuan (Daniel) Yu is a judge at the criminal court of Taipei District Court in Taiwan. In 2010, he received his Master’s degree in law from National Chengchi University, and has judge of the criminal court in Taiwan while retaining his qualifications to be a lawyer and practice law. Additionally, he has been a lecturer at the Judges Academy of Taiwan and the criminal court of Taipei District Court in Taiwan. He specializes in criminal law and criminal procedure. As a judge, he has presided and sentenced thousands of criminal cases that have included felonies and misdemeanors. He was selected by the Judges Academy of Taiwan in 2019 to attend NYU as a visiting scholar. During his planned time at the U.S-Asia Law Institute (USALI), his research will be on the American sentencing system and focus on the practice of the Sentencing Guidelines. Moreover, he will conduct comparative research on the sentencing system between the United States and Taiwan.