Tragic death shows need for reform

The tragic death of a judge who fell from a building on April 12 accentuated the issue of long-term overtime work endangering the mental and physical health of judicial officials.

Many have advocated for an increase in personnel or adjustments in case distribution to relieve the overworked judicial system, but the problem cannot be solved without evidence-based measures.

The problem with the overworked judicial system is not just that it is short-staffed, but also a systematic problem of how to allocate judicial resources appropriately. 

Aside from Taiwan, many other countries are facing the same challenges.

Indicator 16.3 of the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promotes “the rule of law at the national and international levels, and ensures equal access to justice for all,” encouraging the globe to conduct scientific empirical investigation and thorough understanding of the actual judicial needs of the public.

For this, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development collaborated with Pathfinders and published a policy paper last year titled “Improving the monitoring of SDG 16.3.3: Towards better access to justice,” to promote an international standard for access to justice.

The Legal Australia-Wide Survey: Legal need in Australia in 2012 states that the legal problems raised by 9 percent of interviewees accounted for 65 percent of the total, highlighting the centralization of access to justice.

In addition, about one-third of Australians would encounter at least one legal issue within two years, with common disputes tied to consumerism, neighborhoods or money. 

Regarding vulnerable groups who need increased access to justice, the Australian government offered administrative resources and alternative dispute resolutions (ADR) to effectively ease the burden on the judicial system.

Additionally, the Canadian Legal Problems Survey conducted in 2021 revealed the same problem. 

About 50 percent of Canadians were involved in legal disputes, most of which were domestic, consumer or neighborhood disputes.

Thus, the Canadian government successfully reduced the number of judicial cases by optimizing their ADR and providing legal services in communities.

Learning from international experiences, to cope with simple and common cases in high demand, increasing personnel in the administration would be more effective than adding personnel to the judicial system. 

I hope president-elect William Lai (賴清德) will fulfill his commitment to establish a standing committee on judicial reform in charge of an empirical judicial inquiry, increase the number of administrative officials and loosen the overworked judicial system to achieve sustainable development goals for the country.

Hsiao I-ming is resource development manager of the Judicial Reform Foundation.

Translated by Chien Yan-ru

This article was published in the Taipei Times on April 26, 2024.