Kaohsiung Prosecutors' Office Profile/ Kaohsiung District Attorney Office
(Photo:http://www.ksc.moj.gov.tw/mp115.html The original building housing the Kaohsiung District Court and Kaohsiung Prosecutors' Office was demolished in 1986)
(Photo:http://www.ksc.moj.gov.tw/mp115.html The original building housing the Kaohsiung District Court and Kaohsiung Prosecutors' Office was demolished in 1986)
Structure
As with a number of State Attorneys' Offices in the US, the District Court and the District Prosecutors' Office share the same building. However, due to the historical influence of the Japanese-German justice model in Taiwan, the District Court and the District Prosecutors' Office share an almost equal space within one building. That is to say, the Prosecutors' office not occupy simply a small part of the building but almost half of it.
Workload / Caseload
In general, once a criminal activity has been reported by the agent or a complaint has been made by the individual, prosecutors have no leeway to decide whether or not to take the case. No discretion is allowed in the selection of case. What is the effect of this? In 2004, the population of Kaohsiung City was 1,512,677, while a further1,238,925 people lived in Kaohsiung County. In the same year in Kaohsiung Prosecutor's Office( Kaohsiung District Attorney Office) there were 47,924 criminal cases, 27,907 enforcement cases and 126,654 other cases, including civil complaints or criminal cases which hadn't been proved or for evidence hadn't been found. The number of prosecutors working in the Kaohsiung Prosecutors' Office((the Kaohsiung Distirct Attorney Office) was between eighty and ninety in 2004. The inevitable result is a very heavy workload.
As with a number of State Attorneys' Offices in the US, the District Court and the District Prosecutors' Office share the same building. However, due to the historical influence of the Japanese-German justice model in Taiwan, the District Court and the District Prosecutors' Office share an almost equal space within one building. That is to say, the Prosecutors' office not occupy simply a small part of the building but almost half of it.
Workload / Caseload
In general, once a criminal activity has been reported by the agent or a complaint has been made by the individual, prosecutors have no leeway to decide whether or not to take the case. No discretion is allowed in the selection of case. What is the effect of this? In 2004, the population of Kaohsiung City was 1,512,677, while a further1,238,925 people lived in Kaohsiung County. In the same year in Kaohsiung Prosecutor's Office( Kaohsiung District Attorney Office) there were 47,924 criminal cases, 27,907 enforcement cases and 126,654 other cases, including civil complaints or criminal cases which hadn't been proved or for evidence hadn't been found. The number of prosecutors working in the Kaohsiung Prosecutors' Office((the Kaohsiung Distirct Attorney Office) was between eighty and ninety in 2004. The inevitable result is a very heavy workload.
(see http://www.ksc.moj.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=32480&ctNode=13353&mp=021, 2008/3/21 reviewed.)
Division of Duties
Since 2003, the Kaohsiung Prosecutors' Office (the Kaohsiung District Attorney Office) has embrassed the cross examination process. This indicates that Taiwanese Criminal Procedure is moving away from the Japanese-German justice model and closer to the American Criminal Justice system. How can an old continental legal system restruture itself to accommodate a brand new American-Hollywood-style cross examination? Well, a lot of different things have happened, but I prefer to leave this to the reader's imagination. Returning to the subject of workload, once the Judicial Yuan had decided to install this new system, the most crucial aspect for Prosecution System was manpower. Unles the Prosecutors' office( District Attorney Office) doubled its manpower the whole criminal justice system might collapse.
As a result, each local Prosecutors' office now has two main sessions. One, the so called 'cross examination' session represents the public's interest in court of justice. The other, the so called 'investigation session' carries out the traditional duty of intensive investigation, to prove that an individual or company has committed a crime. To do this successfully, a lot of tasks are required - pre-interviewing witness, interrogating defedants, checking evidence. Furthermore, the investigation session is itself divided into 10 unions, for example the IP Crime Unit, the Drug related Unit and the Anti-corruption Unit. The investigation session conducts its investigation and oversees cases reported by the police, and once the investigation-prosecutor has decided that a case is ready for court, he or she will file information and all evidence, then the 'cross examination' session will assign a prosecutor to present the facts to between one and three judges in a court of law.
Division of Duties
Since 2003, the Kaohsiung Prosecutors' Office (the Kaohsiung District Attorney Office) has embrassed the cross examination process. This indicates that Taiwanese Criminal Procedure is moving away from the Japanese-German justice model and closer to the American Criminal Justice system. How can an old continental legal system restruture itself to accommodate a brand new American-Hollywood-style cross examination? Well, a lot of different things have happened, but I prefer to leave this to the reader's imagination. Returning to the subject of workload, once the Judicial Yuan had decided to install this new system, the most crucial aspect for Prosecution System was manpower. Unles the Prosecutors' office( District Attorney Office) doubled its manpower the whole criminal justice system might collapse.
As a result, each local Prosecutors' office now has two main sessions. One, the so called 'cross examination' session represents the public's interest in court of justice. The other, the so called 'investigation session' carries out the traditional duty of intensive investigation, to prove that an individual or company has committed a crime. To do this successfully, a lot of tasks are required - pre-interviewing witness, interrogating defedants, checking evidence. Furthermore, the investigation session is itself divided into 10 unions, for example the IP Crime Unit, the Drug related Unit and the Anti-corruption Unit. The investigation session conducts its investigation and oversees cases reported by the police, and once the investigation-prosecutor has decided that a case is ready for court, he or she will file information and all evidence, then the 'cross examination' session will assign a prosecutor to present the facts to between one and three judges in a court of law.
The Kaohsiung District Attorneys' Office/ The Taiwan Kaohsiung District Court
No.188, Hedong Rd., Cianjin District, Kaohsiung City 801, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
80122
Tel: +886-7-2161468Ext.3310 / 886-7-2161418
No.188, Hedong Rd., Cianjin District, Kaohsiung City 801, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
80122
Tel: +886-7-2161468Ext.3310 / 886-7-2161418
Business Hours:
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Directions: (map of Taiwan maps.google.com.tw)
<http://maps.google.com.tw/maps/mm?f=q&q=&ie=UTF8&hl=en&ll=22.626053,120.289395&spn=0.005734,0.00942&z=17>
<http://maps.google.com.tw/maps/mm?f=q&q=&ie=UTF8&hl=en&ll=22.626053,120.289395&spn=0.005734,0.00942&z=17>
2008.3.21 By Wan-Li Yang
