Taiwan's legal Aid Foundation was established in 2004, its objective was to help those people who could not afford to hire lawyers. However, after an amendment passed by the legislature in 2015, as long as defendants apply to the foundation, the foundation must appoint a public defender to the case. The amendment has caused an increase in the case received at the foundation. The Legal Aid Foundation has been assisting people with financial hardship on legal affairs. But two years ago, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment allowing public defenders to assist in the mandatory representation case of three years imprisonment. The amendment has caused a dramatic case increase to the foundation. ==VOICE: CHOU HAN-WEI CEO, Legal Aid Foundation== After 2015, the number of cases received grew by 20% annually. The ratio of criminal cases is about 51% or 52%, which is more than civil cases. Among those criminal cases, felony cases are about 50% to 60% CEO Chou pointed out, after the amendment passed in 2015, they no longer review cases received due to human rights concerns. The mandatory representation cases are mostly narcotics-related, and some are financial crime and fraud. Even when defendants were wealthy enough to hire lawyers, they used the foundation for free legal counsel. ==HSIEH MENG-YU lawyer== People have their own social perceptions. They may wonder whether the foundation should assist all felony cases, and would that take up resources from the needy? I think that Legal Aid Foundation should consider rectifying and excluding those who are wealthy. Or maybe the foundation should review whether the cases received have sufficient reasons to defend them. As the foundation lacks strict regulations, legal cases increase annually. To direct the foundation back to its purpose of helping people who are unable to afford lawyers, the foundation needs to adjust its policy on accepting legal cases. TRANSLATED BY: ANTHONY LIN 民國93年成立的法律扶助基金會，原本用意在扶助弱勢民眾打官司，但是立法院104年修法，將最輕本刑三年以上的強制辯護案件，只要被告提出申請，法律扶助基金會不需審查，就要為被告指定律師辯護，導致刑案事件量暴增，被質疑違反扶助弱勢的設立目的。 法律扶助基金會，顧名思義就是扶助無資力的弱勢民眾打官司，但在前年立法院修法後，將本刑三年以上的強制辯護案件，新增為可申請法扶律師，導致案件量大增，重罪甚至占了6成。 ==財團法人法律扶助基金會執行長 周漢威== 104年以後我們的案件量 每年是以20%的比例大量增加 刑事已經占到51跟52(%) 比民事還多 其中重罪的案件 在所有刑事案件裡面 接近5成到6成 周漢威指出，104年修法後更為放寬，顧及人權，連案情都無需審查。而強制辯護案件，以毒品案占最大宗，還有些是重大金融犯罪、詐欺案，即使被告有錢請律師，也都來申請免費的法律扶助。 ==律師 謝孟羽== 當然大家有社會觀感 是不是所有的重罪我都要輔助 這樣子會不會排擠到資源等等 我覺得這邊法扶可以做思考 法律的部分是不是有可能 加進排富或是再做一些修正 或是說 其實他還是要審查 他到底是不是顯無理由 由於法扶案件欠缺排富條款，審核機制寬鬆，以致於案件量逐年增加，不但耗費法扶經費，也浪費司法資源，如何讓法扶回歸初衷，恐怕還是要經由政策調整。 記者 郭采彥 陳昌維 台北報導