Judges, prosecutors, attorneys, police officers-altogether eighty-six people from various law enforcement organizations all over Taiwan, participated in a two-day Still Thoughts Camp at the Abode of Still Thoughts on June 14 and 15, 1997. Visiting several of these people, I found that while their minds are being purified, they always enforce the law with respect and care for human nature.

Ah-lung was sentenced to three years for a number of thefts, but because of his good behavior in prison, he was released on parole two years later.

Free again, he decided to change his ways and get a job. One day, drunk and overwhelmed by greed, he broke into a car to steal something. However, he was so drunk that he fell asleep on the driver's seat. The owner of the car came back and reported it immediately to the police. Ah-lung was arrested again.

The district court judge sentenced him to six months for his attempted theft. Ah-lung appealed. In the High Court, the presiding judge asked him if he thought it was worthwhile, now that he was over thirty, to be imprisoned again and again.

"Your Honor, I was drunk and unable to control myself. That was why I tried to steal again."

"Do you have a job now?"

"Yes, I do, and a girlfriend too. Please have mercy on me."

Three hearings were held, and each time the accused tearfully admitted his guilt. The presiding judge and two co-judges at the High Court debated whether rejecting his appeal and upholding the original six-month sentence would be really effective in bringing him back on the right track. They realized that it would not be easy for him to find a job. Besides, his girlfriend showed up at each trial, listening to his repentance attentively and affectionately. "Since he has already admitted his crime and has such a nice girlfriend, it will be a pity to put him behind bars again. After all, he committed the crime on impulse."

Moreover, if he was found guilty, his parole would be canceled and he would have to serve the remainder of his previous sentence, for a total of one and a half years in prison. Under such circumstances, there would be no chance for him to reform. If he was confined for less than fifty-nine days, then it would only be a petty offense. He could still be on parole and could start a new life.

That was the decision made by Weng Yu-jung, the presiding judge at the High Court.

Like Giving Medicine

Weng's mother is a senior commissioner in the Tzu Chi Foundation. She frequently says to him, "Always be considerate to others." This phrase, which has been imprinted in his mind since he was a child, has been a norm for the judgments he has made during his twenty-seven-year judicial career.

Weng's mother always says: "One may not have a good temper, but he should at least cultivate his virtue. Temper is inborn; good moral cultivation is acquired. A bad temper can be improved by good moral cultivation." Weng observed that it is as if someone committed a crime because his behavior had not been properly formed, so Weng has to use the law to correct that person's personal cultivation.

Weng believes that if someone has made a serious mistake, it is his behavior that is bad, and judges should not deny his value as a human being. They should treat criminals as patients. To give them punishment is to give them medicine. Judges want to help them get better, not just to penalize them. Therefore, they must be very careful in handing down sentences. If a sentence is too heavy, people will think the judges are oppressive, but if the sentence is too light, it serves no purpose and crimes cannot be prevented.

"Why don't you work diligently? There are many ways to relieve your anxieties. Why did you take amphetamines? You not only hurt yourself, but you also committed a crime." In every trial, Weng always starts his interrogation like this so that the accused can feel that Weng cares about them. Then he takes the opportunity to teach them. Frequently, the accused deplore their crimes, lower their heads and shed tears. This could mean that they have learned their lesson even before they have been sentenced.

During a trial, Weng considers problems from the viewpoint of the accused and gives them plenty of opportunity to defend themselves. Therefore, very few convicts feel that their sentences are unfair and show radical reactions.

Except once: "That's too heavy! That's not fair! The sentence is unreasonable!" a defendant screamed in court. Weng replied calmly, "If you think the sentence is too heavy, you can make an appeal, but don't forget that you must do so within four days."

He thinks that criminals are patients with sickness in their minds. "A nurse doesn't blame a patient if he screams because of pain. Similarly, a judge should have the same understanding if a defendant explodes in the courtroom because he is afraid to go to jail."

Prosecution With Care

In a criminal case, the prosecutor is always the first person that the plaintiff and the accused meet. He is responsible for investigating the crime and interrogating witnesses. He frequently collects evidence on his own initiative to establish the responsibility of the accused. The judge is in charge of the trial. Whether or not the accused is pronounced guilty depends on the evidence.

"The judge has to be very careful in any trial," observed Hsieh Chien-chiu, who used to be a judge but is now the chief prosecutor in the High Prosecution Office. "Sometimes he has to consider the case in favor of the accused so that injustice will not be done to the innocent. From the perspective of a prosecutor, however, he must pursue anything that is suspicious."

Hsieh once handled an inheritance case. The owner of the property, who passed away a hundred years ago, did not transfer the ownership to anyone. His offspring fought against each other for the rights. Hsieh remarked that in his twenty-four years of practicing law, the thing he was most sorry to see was fighting among siblings over an inheritance, because no matter what decision was made, someone or everyone would feel hurt.

"A prosecutor must investigate thoroughly before he decides to prosecute a case," explained Sun Ching-hsin, a public prosecutor in the Shihlin Prosecution Office. "He must not do so unless he has found enough evidence-whether someone has committed a crime, what kind of crime, the time, the place, the motive, the method, whether the accused had an accomplice or not, etc. A prosecutor has to investigate all the details." In this way, injustice will not be done to the innocent.

Sun is a pious Buddhist. He pointed out that by putting criminals in jail for a couple of years, we may keep them from doing further evil during this period, but we cannot help them get rid of their bad habits. The best way to prevent crime is to activate the compassion hidden in the criminals' hearts and lead them to goodness. This can only be done through religion.

Fair Judgments

The law is based on the principle of fairness. Before being tried and convicted, every accused person has basic human rights that should not be violated.

There is an old saying: "If there is any doubt in a crime, the punishment should be light." Huang Kuo-chung, a judge in the Taipei District Court, thinks that if there is any doubt, the accused should be considered innocent. "My principle is that I will never let injustice be done to the innocent-I will consider the accused a suspect, not a criminal. Only when the evidence has been definitely established will I hand down the verdict."

During his service in the Youth Court, he once handled a case of arson in a karaoke establishment. At that time, only one young man was suspected of the arson, and other kids were acquitted for lack of evidence. The prosecutor had a different opinion, but Huang insisted on setting them free. "We should make the conviction based on the evidence. Since there is doubt, we cannot convict them."

He indicated that if the youths had been convicted recklessly, it would have affected the development of their personalities and would have done more harm to society in the future. It might even have caused irreparable consequences. Furthermore, a rash decision could have made people distrust the law.

Tsai Yu-lin used to work as a member of Instructor Chang, a special telephone hot line service for psychological counseling. As a judge, she pays special attention in trials. "I listen to the accused with great patience because that is his basic right. Besides, one small phrase might be helpful to the whole case." She compares a trial to a doctor's diagnosis. "A responsible doctor will always listen to the patient attentively. Only when he finds out the true cause of the disease can he prescribe the right medication. The same thing applies to a dutiful judge. He must listen to the accused, understand the true circumstances of the case, and then make the right judgment."

Respecting Life

Although the law has granted judges the power to hand down the death penalty, does a presiding judge have the right to deprive a person of his life? As a co-judge in a joint court, Huang Kuo-chung assented to a death sentence. It was a great shock to himself. "Although the criminal deserved such a punishment, it was still unbearable for me to end someone's life."

"I myself was surprised when I gave the death sentence to a criminal," said Weng Yu-jung. "My hands were trembling." For the first time, he had given the death penalty to a hardened murderer. Instead of blaming the judge, the convict was very calm. Weng later visited the convict in jail and took the opportunity to discuss Buddhism with him.

The criminal said, "If I were you, I would have made the same verdict." He'd been in the underworld for many years, but actually he was only a pawn for other gangsters. He felt that Weng was one of the few people who had ever treated him as a human being.

That case gave Weng much food for thought. Since then, he has thought over and over again before he finally handed down any death sentence. "After all, it is a matter of life and death. I have to be very careful."

Since he sees so many murder scenes, does a prosecutor ever get used to death?

"Not necessarily," said Yu Lai-yen, former prosecutor and now a judge in the Taipei District Court. "After all, we have feelings. How can we be indifferent to death?" He was very uncomfortable the first time he investigated a death scene, but since his purpose was to redress the injustice to the dead, he eventually overcame his fear. Having made more and more investigations in similar cases, now he can look at death with a more equitable mind. However, one thing will never change, and that is his respect for the dead.

Getting Results With Fairness

Before the written law was formulated, people's lives revolved around invisible regulations that could be either moral restrictions or the pressures of human relationships. With the progress of time, habits established by common practice evolved into family regulations or social doctrines that have been formulated as laws and become a force to maintain public order.

Lawyer Li Tsung-teh divides the law into the basic aspect and the technical aspect. He believes the basic aspect to be fairness, without which the technical law might be abused, resulting in unjust convictions. Therefore, each law enforcer should start from a spirit of fairness to show the full spirit of the law and to create a fair, just environment.

"The law is a living thing which must be applied appropriately to every case in order to achieve fair results." Tsai Yu-lin stressed that impartiality means being reasonable, but with a kind heart. "If we try to solve a problem with a kind heart and learn to forgive others, and if others can also consider our positions, then it will be easy to reach a balance."

Lawyer Wang Ju-hsuan has been helping unfortunate women for a long time. She is frequently in contact with family violence, child abuse and teenage prostitution. She feels that the law can temporarily relieve victims of the fear of being attacked, but it will take a long time to heal the wounds in their minds. Although this often bothers her, she feels that as a lawyer she can do something for society.