President of the Judiciary Xu Zongli (middle in the front row) and relevant officials of the courts of first and second instance in Tainan District welcomed the public to visit the special exhibition of national judges in the Judicial Museum.

(Photo by reporter Wang Junzhong)

[Reporter Wang Junzhong/Tainan Report] The largest legal vernacular movement in Taiwan’s judicial history—the new system of national judges will be implemented on January 1 next year. The exhibition will be held from December 4 to the end of next year.

President of the Judiciary Xu Zongli said that after the implementation of the national judge (participant trial system) next year, the deficiencies and effectiveness will be reviewed after 5 or 6 years of trial implementation; whether legislation to promote the jury system is not ruled out.

Xu Zongli said that in the process of promoting national judges, professional judges are invited to explain legal concepts in vernacular language that ordinary people can understand, so that ordinary people can understand. This is the largest judicial vernacular movement in Taiwan's history. The closer distance between the judiciary and the people also makes the verdict more grounded.

Five or six years after its implementation in January next year, a comprehensive review will be conducted on the effectiveness and shortcomings of the national judge system.

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Xu Zongli said that starting next year, the first stage of the national judge system will be for cases of intentional crimes causing death; the second stage will include felony cases with a sentence of more than 10 years in the trial of national judges from 2026 onwards.

The Judicial Yuan has formed a committee to evaluate the effectiveness of the national judge system, and will review and adjust after five or six years of trial operation. Will legislators promote the jury system in the future?

These are all possible, not ruled out.

Chen Benliang, president of the National Judges Division of the Tainan District Court, said that from New Year's Day next year (2023), as long as a citizen is 23 years old or older and has lived in the place of registration for more than 4 months, he will have the opportunity to be selected as a national judge. Judges jointly hear major criminal cases and make judgments.

According to the law, if there is no special reason, one cannot refuse to serve as a national judge.

Judicial Yuan spokesman Zhang Yonghong said that the special exhibition of national judges is divided into two exhibition themes: "National Judges Online" and "National Judges ing".

"National Judges Online" reproduces the trial process of cases in the court in an interactive form in the exhibition area; "National Judges ing" uses text, images, time, audio-visual and other elements to present the process and development of the national judge system.

The Judicial Yuan explained that the exhibition specially imitated the scene of the court of the national judges. There were 6 chairs of the national judges, and the chair covers were printed with different styles of chairs, which symbolized that the national judges of different occupations and identities sat on the court for trial. Take pictures on the seat, scan the QR code in the exhibition hall, follow the steps to read the content of the case, listen to the defense voice, and experience the process of a national judge hearing a case in court.

After the end, show the mobile phone screen of the completed experience, make your judgment on the case, and you can exchange limited souvenirs with the Sibo Museum.

The Judicial Yuan also created "the ruler in your heart" ingeniously, as a limited souvenir of this special exhibition, implying that each national judge has a different measure when trying a case because of their own life experience, life experience, and values The method, "National judges independently exercise their powers in accordance with the law without any interference" is printed on the scale, which is derived from item 1 of Article 9 of the "National Judges Law", and the exercise of powers on behalf of national judges is protected by law.

The public is welcome to visit the exhibition, experience a trial process, and prepare for the possibility of serving as a national judge in the future.

Through the interactive tools in the special exhibition, the public understands the process of national judges participating in the trial of major criminal cases.

(Photo by reporter Wang Junzhong)

After completing the process experience of the national judge participating in the trial and making a personal judgment, you can get a special small souvenir of "the ruler in your heart".

(Photo by reporter Wang Junzhong)