再審程序的再省思——以挪威及美國北卡羅來納州的法制為借鏡

Another Path for Exoneration —Referring to the Legal Framework of Norway and North Carolina

無論是有罪或是無罪判決，都可能會有錯誤。但是，錯誤的有罪判決所造成的傷害及成本遠較無罪者要大。是故，制度上應極力避免錯誤的有罪判決產生，也應該賦予受錯誤有罪判決者必要及有效的救濟途徑。由於制度設計上的缺失，我國法院裁定開始再審的比例極低。這意味著有相當數量的錯誤有罪確定判決未能受有救濟。這一篇論文分析我國實務運作的統計數據，試圖找尋何以法院傾向於不願意裁定再審的原因。挪威及美國北卡羅來納州都曾面臨與我國類似的局面，但也都藉由在制度上建立獨立的冤案（刑事案件）審議委員會，解決救濟錯誤有罪判決的問題。其經驗及制度相當值得我國將來修（立）法時參考。

Mistakes happens in criminal procedure. However, wrongful convictions do more harms than wrongful acquittals do. Therefore, we should do the best to avoid wrongful convictions and provide defendants with necessary and effective rights to appeal. Due to the defections of the new trial law, courts only permit rare application for new trial, which means that quite lots of wrongful convictions cannot be exonerated. This article analyzes the statistic, looking into the reasons that courts permit few applications for new trial. Similar situations happened at Norway and North Carolina. They have solved the problem by establishing an independent actual innocence inquiry commission or criminal cases review commission. Their ex-perience and legal framework is extremely note-worthy.