Taiwan's Constitutional Court has ruled that forced labor as a punishment for a criminal offense is unconstitutional and that it will no longer be allowed in several existing laws.
The case was brought by several activists who argued that requiring people convicted of a criminal offense to perform forced labor was unconstitutional because it restricted a person's physical freedom beyond that imposed in the punishment handed down for a crime, and the court agreed.
Lin Hui-huang (???), the secretary-general of the Judicial Yuan, which oversees the Constitutional Court, said Friday provisions in laws mandating forced labor as a punishment would become invalid once the constitutional interpretation was published.
They include the first paragraph of Article 90 of the Criminal Law, and several provisions in the Rehabilitative Measures for Burglar and Fence Criminals Act and the Organized Crime Prevention Act, according to Lin.
The court also ruled that those who are currently in or will soon begin forced labor programs will be exempt from completing or starting them from the date the interpretation is published.
Lin said the justices reviewed forced labor provisions based on the "principle of proportionality" and struck them down because they did not meet the standard for being necessary, a key element of proportionality.
The justices argued that convicts could take skills classes, for example, while serving their time as opposed to doing forced labor before or after their sentences as a form of rehabilitation, as can happen at present.
In addition, the justices felt the forced labor provisions were applied indiscriminately. It found the mandatory work period in all provisions to be set at three years, regardless of a convict's offenses or sentence.
According to Lin, the court also argued that the forced labor provisions were unconstitutional because they were not clearly differentiated from criminal sentences, as required by the Constitution.
The court found that forced labor could be deemed as a form of rehabilitation or corrective measure that is inherently different from serving a sentence as a punishment for a crime, and could not be allowed as a punishment, Lin said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel