英文摘要 |
With regard to procedural law, since it is impossible to 'prove' that a person must be detained because of risk of committing a crime in the future, it is only possible to accept a degree of confidence after assessing the person’s intentions and tendencies. If implementation of compulsory measures such as criminal penalties or other restrictions of freedom are based on surmises concerning the future, and not on actual past behavior, this not only ignores individuals’ ability to choose not to engage in behavior harmful to society, but would also make it necessary to lower the required degree of proof in order to meet the condition of 'confidence in guilt beyond reasonable doubt.' The risk of error will naturally rise as the standard of proof is lowered, and this is especially the case when a prosecutor may make a selective prosecution of an individual. Not only do the nine types of preventive detention that are permissible in Taiwan lack any restrictions on urgent situations or aggravated circumstances, but also allow the use of procedural law to substantively change judgments concerning inherently illegal preparatory crimes made via substantive law. This is especially true in the case when evidence concerning a person’s character made on the basis of the 'record of implemented punishment for a prior offense' is used as a basis for assumption of that person’s 'future' criminal motivation and intention, which violates the principle of presumption of innocence. |