Legislators Pushing for Amendment to Protect Domestic Violence Victims 立委推「未同居伴侶條款」 準用刑事程序

There is a public hearing for amendment of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act today at the Legislative Yuan, where both legislators and civic groups hope to amend the Act to protect the victims.

Kao Chia-yu, Legislator (DPP): “Even when we have over 100,000 domestic violence cases per year, there have been only 400 some cases from non-cohabiting partners who succeeded in getting a restraining order.”

Legislator Kao Chia-yu attended the public hearing for amendment of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, channeling her domestic abuse experience into the energy to help victims. She pushed for the mutatis mutandis application of criminal procedures to the"Non-Cohabiting Partners Provision" with another legislator Fan Yun. They hope the amendment can compensate for current deficiencies in enforcement.

Fan Yun, Legislator (DPP): “Criminal procedures do not readily apply to the provision for non-cohabiting partners; as such, when victims report to the police, the police cannot arrest or interrogate them, and the judge cannot detain them under preventative purposes either. In other words, there is no way to immediately stop violent behavior. ”

As the domestic violence cases involving non-cohabiting partners increase year by year, tripling in five years, where police cannot forcefully intervene to handle such cases, civic groups have called for the same protection and rights for non-cohabiting partners as those accorded to cohabited partners and married couples. The National Police Agency of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice responds with support in the direction of amending the law by the Ministry of Health and Welfare; however, judges in the Judicial Yuan seem to have different opinions.

Lin Yen-jun, Lead Prosecutor, Dept. for Prosecutorial Affairs, Ministry of Justice: “The Ministry of Justice supports this direction because if there are applicable procedures, in the future prosecutors handling such matters will have a legal basis for issuing emergency orders or other measures.”

Wen Jia-chien, Criminal Court Judge, Judicial Yuan: “Non-cohabiting partners may have very widespread partners hence situations may be quite diverse. If we apply criminal procedures directly, we may violate the modest and restrained principles under criminal law.”

The draft amendment for the Domestic Violence Prevention Act proposed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare has been delivered to the Executive Yuan, which will begin a review on Sept. 14 and will hold cross-departmental meetings to deliberate. Once confirmed, the amendment will be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for the actual review. Fan Yun noted that she will also propose her own version of the amendment to more fully protect victims of violence in intimate relationships. 

民進黨立委高嘉瑜指出：「即使我們現在一年的（家暴）案件將近十幾萬件，可是真的有未同居親密伴侶來申請保護令成功的才400多件。」

把曾經受到家暴的經驗，轉化成幫助受害者的力量，立委高嘉瑜出席家暴法修法公聽會，和立委范雲推動「未同居伴侶條款」應準用刑事程序，希望彌補目前執行層面的不足。

民進黨立委范雲表示：「未同居伴侶條款並沒有準用家暴法的刑事程序，導致被害人報警之後，警方無法進行拘提、逮捕等強制作為，法官也無法以預防性羈押，也就是說，沒有辦法立即中斷暴力行為。」

未同居伴侶間的暴力案件逐年攀升，5年間已經提高3倍，但員警面對類似案件無權強制介入處理。民團呼籲未同居伴侶條款也應與同居伴侶、已婚伴侶有相同的保障，內政部警政署和法務部都回應支持尊重衛福部修法方向，不過司法部法官則有不同看法。

法務部檢察司主任檢察官林彥均說：「法務部對於這個方向是支持的，因為如果有這樣子可以準用的規定，未來檢察官在案件處理上相關的緊急強制處分措施，也多了一個可以運用的法律依據。」

司法院刑事廳法官文家倩則認為：「未同居的親密關係的伴侶，他的對象其實是滿廣泛的，那他的狀況也非常多元，那如果說是適用直接準用到刑事程序的話，可能會有違反刑法謙抑原則的疑慮。」

目前衛福部所提出的家暴法修法草案已經送到行政院，預計在9月14日審查，並且召開跨部會討論會議，若確定之後就會送立法院進入實質審查。范雲也表示將提出自己的修法版本，以更完整保護親密關係暴力下的被害人。