萬國法律事務所

Two persons that were acquitted in a criminal procedure for bank fraud that was ongoing for 30 years have brought an action for state compensation for wrongful imprisonment. However, their claim for compensation was denied because they were found by the court to have been grossly negligent. They then proceeded to apply for a Constitutional Interpretation from the Grand Justices of the Judicial Yuan, and the Grand Justices have recently issued Constitution Interpretation No. 670, which states that relevant provisions of the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act violate the Constitution and must thus be amended or repealed within two years.

In the above case, both claimants were denied compensation by the original court in accordance with Article 2 Section 3 of the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act which states that a person who has been detained before an acquittal decision is rendered, may not request state compensation if the person was detained or served a sentence due to an intentional or a grossly negligent act.

However, the Grand Justices found that the above provisions failed to take into consideration issues such as whether the detention was a result of destruction of evidence, false confession, other misleading or obstruction of justice behavior, or other criminal behaviors. It also failed to balance the degree of the victim’s liability and the losses suffered by the victim; such an “all-or-nothing” approach in compensation clearly violates “the principles of proportionality” guaranteed by the Constitution and therefore should be amended.

In response to the Constitution Interpretation No. 670, the Judicial Yuan will establish a committee to draft the amendment of the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act, so that in the future, compensation will no longer be “all-or-nothing” and proportionate compensation will be introduced.