政治因素對於法院審理之影響分析－以臺灣選舉誹謗司法案件為例

Political Factors and Judicial Verdicts: Defamation Litigation in Taiwan

吳重禮(Chung-Li Wu) ； 李伊婷(Yi-Ting Lee) ； 孫煒(Way Sun)

《臺灣民主季刊》 9卷1期 (2012/03) Pp. 1-40

https://doi.org/10.6448/TDQ.201203.0001

摘要

在臺灣激烈選戰過程中，採取「負面競選」（negative campaigning）是頗為普遍的手法，也因此經常引發選舉誹謗訴訟案件。對於這類涉及高度政治敏感性的司法案件，其判決結果是否會受到政治因素的影響？鑑此，作者藉由「司法院法學資料檢索系統」，蒐集各級法院（地方法院、高等法院、最高法院）在2000年1月至2011年3月期間選舉誹謗案件判決，透過「政黨因素」、「當選與否」、「關係網絡」、「審判層級」等四個指標，利用量化統計與質性研究兩種途徑，藉此檢證政治因素是否會影響選舉誹謗案件的判決結果。分析結果顯示，除了當選者較易被判無罪之外，其餘三個指標（政黨因素、關係網絡、審判層級）與法院判決之間並不必然存有因果關係。總體而言，本文初步研究以為，民間普遍認定的審判印象，譬如「法院是國民黨開的」、「當選過關，落選被關」、「有關係就沒關係、沒關係就有關係」、「一審重判，二審減半，三審不算」等，這些觀點與實際情形有所出入。在結論中，作者摘述分析要點，並詮釋司法政治的理論意涵及其研究建議。

關鍵字

司法體系 ； 選舉誹謗案件 ； 法院 ； 政治因素 ； 國民黨

並列摘要

Negative campaigning is a common characteristic in Taiwan's electoral politics, and therefore often leads to cases of defamation in campaign. Because of highly political issues of such judicial cases, the general public does not seem to trust the judiciary to be independent of political influence. In this study, we collect data on the decisions of campaign defamation in Taiwan's three-tiered court system (district courts, high courts, and the Supreme Court) from January 2000 to March 2011. Data analyzed in this study are collected from ”the Judicial Yuan of the Republic of China Law and Regulations Retrieving System.” By employing a mixed quantitative and qualitative method (including cross-tabulations and documentary analyses), this study investigates the impacts of four political indicators (partisanship, elected or not, sociopolitical networks, and judicial procedure) on litigations of campaign defamation. In the quantitative analyses, results reveal that the three factors (partisanship, sociopolitical networks, and judicial procedure) do not necessarily have a causal relationship with judicial verdicts except that those elected are more likely to be found not-guilty. In the part of qualitative analyses, little evidence proves that political factors systematically influence court decisions. We find that the negative stereotypes of the judicial system do not tally with the empirical findings, for example, ”the courts are dominated by the Kuomintang;” ”those elected will be let off, but those losing the elections will be imprisoned;” ”those with good social connections won't have any problem, but those without connections will have big trouble;” or, ”at the first trial a heavy sentence is passed, at the second trial the sentence is halved, and at the third trial the case is quashed.” Taken as a whole, the effects of political variables exert considerably less influence than expected on defamation verdicts. In conclusion, the key findings and research limitations are reviewed, and suggestions of judicial politics are proposed for future research.

並列關鍵字

judicial system ； defamation in campaign ； court ； political factor ； Kuomintang

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