《TAIPEI TIMES》 Council of Grand Justices rules therapy for sex offenders ‘mostly constitutional’

/ Staff writer, with CNA

The Council of Grand Justices on Thursday declared that laws allowing convicted sex offenders to be held in a designated facility for therapy after completing their sentence are “mostly constitutional.”

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However, the council ruled it “unconstitutional” that convicted sex offenders are not given an opportunity to express their opinion before holding them for potentially indefinite treatment.

The ruling also said that the Ministry of Justice should ensure that such therapy is undertaken as a form of rehabilitation rather than a punishment.

The only facility that offers such treatment is at Taichung Prison.

The council instructed the ministry to make adjustments to the process within three years to protect the rights of former convicts.

The council made the constitutional interpretation after four petitioners asked it to rule on the constitutionality of holding sex offenders for mandatory therapy after the end of their prison term.

The argument revolved around Article 91-1 of the Criminal Code and Article 22-1 of the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act （性侵害犯罪防治法）, which state that sex offenders can be ordered to undergo inpatient treatment after completing their prison terms, if a medical evaluation concludes that there is a danger of recidivism.

While the laws specify that offenders held at therapy facilities must be evaluated annually to determine their progress, they do not set a maximum length for the therapy, meaning that they can in principle be held indefinitely.

The lead petitioner in the case, surnamed Lu （盧）, was sentenced to three years in jail for a sexual offense and fraud, but was held in the facility of Taichung Prison for nine years because he was deemed a threat to the public, based on his annual medical evaluations.

After his release from the facility last year, Lu filed for a constitutional interpretation, saying it was unacceptable that he was held for nearly a decade after his jail term.

The petitioners argued that the laws breach the Constitution, which guarantees personal freedom and the principle of proportionality.

Although Judge Chang Yuan-sen （張淵森）, one of the petitioners, praised the ruling, he expressed regret that the justices ruled out a maximum limit for mandatory therapy, saying that such decisions should be made case-by-case.

Chang said that while the risk of recidivism among sex offenders is well known, many cases involving them demonstrate a clear lack of proportionality, given that many spend much longer in psychiatric detention than in prison.

If there is no limit on mandatory therapy, people could be locked away for life, regardless of the severity of their crimes, Chang said.

The ministry said it respected the constitutional interpretation, and pledged to make adjustments to the therapy process as soon as possible.

About 60 sex offenders are currently receiving therapy, it said.

The ministry said that the system is being used judiciously, adding that of the 9,049 people convicted under the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act from 2010 to September last year, only 158, or 1.74 percent, have been ordered to receive compulsory treatment, and most have since been released.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES