Sadistic footage, with dialogue in Taiwanese Mandarin, showing a naked captive being tortured while their tormentors laugh and demand, “Spill where the money is!”

The Crime of Unlawful Confinement in Taiwan and the Spread of Vigilante Justice

Taiwan’s Criminal Code contains a provision regarding the crime of “unlawful confinement,” under which depriving another person of their freedom of movement through assault or intimidation is punishable by imprisonment for up to five years, detention, or a fine. In practice, a typical scenario involves detaining an individual to demand the repayment of money or an explanation for misappropriated funds—releasing them only after they promise to settle the debt by a certain deadline—and any injuries inflicted during the confinement are treated not as a separate offense but as a factor that aggravates the severity of the confinement charge itself. It is classified as a serious crime; if the victim sustains serious injury, the penalty ranges from three to ten years in prison, and in cases resulting in death, a life sentence is a possibility.

Furthermore, across the Chinese-speaking world, a form of vigilante justice—in which a captive is publicly humiliated, filmed on a smartphone, and the footage circulated on social media—has become a social phenomenon, creating an environment where videos intended to shame or punish are widely shared. Interactions in which bystanders exchange words and laughter while a person is being interrogated about the whereabouts of money can be seen as stemming from the same unique atmosphere that characterizes this type of “punishment for public display.”