judicial police officers at the court and district prosecutors office are used to
handcuffing and confining both juvenile and adult inmates in the same vehicle
to bring them to court. This not only fails to separate adults and juveniles, but
also severely impairs the juveniles’ self-respect. After investigation and
subsequent follow-up by the Control Yuan, Article 3-3 of the Juvenile Justice
Act was amended on June 19, 2019, to forbid handcuffing and confinement of
juvenile and adult inmates in the same vehicle.
54.
Children found breaking the law are in need of a family living environment
and the formation of secure relations with family members. However,
according to Article 85-1 of the Juvenile Justice Act, where it is necessary to
detain children who are more than 7 years old but less than 12 years old for
violations of the law, they should be detained in juvenile detention houses.
From 2012 until the end of August 2017, about 178 children have been
sentenced to detention in juvenile detention houses. Considering that juvenile
detention houses primarily detain juveniles over 15 years of age and no
adequate alternative education program is made available to them, it is
questionable whether these institutions are able to act in the best interests of
the children. After investigation and follow-up by the Control Yuan, Article
85-1 of the Juvenile Justice Act was deleted when the Act was amended on
June 19, 2019.
Treatment of Juveniles
55.
Paragraph 3, Article 9 of the ICCPR provides that any detainee should be
entitled to detention prior to trial that is limited to a “reasonable period”.
Subparagraph 2, Paragraph 2 of Article 10 of the ICCPR provides that the cases
of accused juveniles “should be brought as speedily as possible for
adjudication.” However, according to the Juvenile Justice Act, the juvenile
courts are allowed to detain juvenile offenders in a juvenile detention house for
up to six months. Where a juvenile protection case is transferred to a prosecutor
and becomes a a criminal case, the juvenile offender becomes a defendant, and
he/she may be put under detention by a ruling given in accordance with the
Code of Criminal Procedure. The juvenile offender may then be put under
detention for up to four months. As a result, the juvenile may be subject to
detention authorized for ten months (six months + four months) in total prior to
trial. The total time is longer than the time limit for which an adult defendant
may be put under detention prior to trial, i.e. four months (maximum four
months allowed for the investigation). On January 17, 2020, certain provisions
were added to Article 19 of the Enforcement Rules for Examination of Juvenile
Protection Cases, recommending that a juvenile court, when considering
rendering a ruling on detention, should take the necessities of the case as well
as the doctrine of ultima-ratio (minimal application of legal coercion) into
account, and may renew the detention, subject to the relevant procedures.
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