A primer on what’s legal, what’s illegal, and how the law can be changed to protect Taiwan’s truly good Samaritans.
he News Lens
Date: 2019/01/22
By: 法操FOLLAW
Credit: CNA / Wang Hongguo
Whenever news of a crime causes public outrage, there will always be a group of people who follow their own sense of justice and seek out the perpetrators to teach them a lesson. Chan Ho-yeung (陳皓揚), a student who killed a cat, was mobbed and beaten. Parents who abused their daughter, who died from her injuries, had their home destroyed by a mob and littered with ghost paper. A kindergarten was egged and covered in graffiti after staff were filmed mistreating the children.
Most recently, videos surfaced of a man allegedly beating both his son and wife after his son failed to bring hot sauce home with his takeout. After news of the incident surfaced, angered internet users embarked on a manhunt and, when they found him, gave him a beating of his own – which is, of course, also in violation of the law.
But do you know what price you might have to pay for being involved in these sorts of lynch mobs?
Don’t let your moment of anger turn you into a criminal
According to media reports, a man surnamed Lin (林) in New Taipei’s Luzhou district sent his son to buy a steamed glutinous rice meat-dumpling. When he discovered that his son forgot to add hot sauce, Lin got angry and allegedly beat both his son and then his intervening wife (Warning: distressing images). [FULL STORY]
