The Impact of Naming and Shaming on the Imprisonment of Political Prisoners

• In Event: Democratization and Local Politics in Taiwan

Abstract

“Naming and shaming” by human rights INGOs is a popular strategy to urge states to increase respect for human rights. While country-level studies about the effects of naming and shaming on human rights abuses abound, few studies examine how such efforts affect the severity of punishment at the individual level. This study tests the impact of naming and shaming on human rights violations using Taiwan Transitional Justice Database, which covers trial information for more than 13000 political prisoners from 1947 to 1992, and reports conducted by the International Amnesty. We contend that how naming and shaming affects human rights protection depends on the timing when the report of the human rights INGOs was released. We hypothesize that a political detainee was less likely to be indicted if the authority’s first decision of the case was made within six months after the human rights INGOs released the report. In addition, we hypothesize that political prisoners tended to receive more severe penalty if the report of the human rights INGOs was released in the period between the first decision made by the authority and the final trial. Statistical results from non-linear regression support our hypotheses. Furthermore, we will take naming and shaming by foreign countries and Taiwan’s international status into account, trying to present a more nuanced picture of the relationship between international pressures and human rights politics in autocracies.

Authors

• Wei-Ting Tsai, National Cheng Kung University

• Yen-Pin Su, National Chengchi University