My thesis focuses on how Taiwan’s law enforcement officers explain and apply the new Miranda rulings. I seek to better understand how police routinely interrogate suspects, the implementation of the Miranda rulings, police officers’ attitudes and reactions toward the new legislation, and the larger criminal justice system in which the Miranda warnings operate. I argue that interrogation practices essentially reveal a unique Taiwan’s police culture. My thesis aims to understand the activities of police interrogation in relation to the social and cultural settings in which it occurs.

Police interrogation reflects the fundamental conflicts over the appropriate relationship between the state and the individual and about the norms that should guide state conduct. Police interrogation involves the conflict of procedural fairness and substantive justice. It is a prominent example of the constitutional exercise and control of state power during Taiwan’s democratic transition. My paper focuses on the
changes in police interrogation within the context of an emerging democracy, and will connect this development to how policies are shaped through internal police culture and traditional values. I have three main research focuses. First, how has the legislature’s commitment to the protection of Miranda rights changed police interrogation practices? Second, how, if at all, have traditional norms, values, and expected behaviors within Taiwan’s law enforcement system adjusted to comply with the Mirandalegislations? And finally, will police officers adopt alternative measures to address and diminish the proper function of Miranda?

My thesis begins with a discussion of Taiwan’s modern interrogation rules and the Miranda reforms. I compare Taiwan’s experience with the Miranda revolution in the United States. The main goal is to draw a comparative baseline between the United States and Taiwan’s Miranda system. Then I illustrate how police officers in Taipei City executed the Miranda mechanism. My analysis can be divided into two settings: police interrogation on the front-stage and police interrogation on the backstage. I track the behavior of police officers in both settings, on and off camera, and examine the implications of both settings on the original visions of the Miranda warning mechanism. I demonstrate that the reliance on the mentorship training system is one of the main features of Taiwan’s police culture. The heavy reliance on a mentorship system could be an indication that modern legal reforms in Taiwan only play a marginal role in police interrogation practices. Instead, the traditional police culture of truth seeking (Faxian Zhenshi), the reliance on personal relationships (Guanxi) between police and suspects, and the balance between three primordial qualities of sociality—sentiment (Qing), reason (Li), and law (Fa)—could continually remain the defining elements of police interrogation practices. Finally, I examine the function of the Miranda warnings within Taiwan’s criminal justice system. Several issues of the system will be discussed, including the abuse of pretrial detention, the ineffective assistance of legal counsel, the ideal police-suspect relationship, and the concerns of procedural justice.

Police secrecy produced a “gap” in our understanding as to what in fact goes on in the interrogation room. My thesis seeks to address such a “gap problem.” I examined records of interrogation and conducted interviews with police officers and defense lawyers in Taipei City. My purpose is to describe empirically the process of police interrogation and how the Miranda rulings were implemented in Taipei City. With the videotapes, transcripts of interrogation, and the information provided by my interviewees, I attempt to outline a clearer picture of the process.