日治時期台灣笞刑之研究：以竊盜罪為例

Abstract

笞刑是一種以竹片打罪犯臀部的刑罰。日治時期台灣總督府在台灣恢復在日本本土早已廢止的笞刑制度，引發許多爭議和辯論。本文介紹日治時期笞刑從立法到廢止的背景，並整理了日治時期有關竊盜罪之追蹤資料。我們發現在當時笞刑對竊盜犯罪具有顯著的嚇阻效果，而徒刑的嚇阻效果則與所得有關。所得低時，增加刑期並無法減少竊盜案件數。

Bastinado is a form of physical punishment, consisting of beating an offender upon his buttocks with a bamboo stick. In the Japanese colonial period, the Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan restored bastinadoes in Taiwan, which had already been abolished in Japan, and it aroused lots of debates. This article describes the background of the execution of bastinadoes, and compiles the panel data of larcenies in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period. We find that bastinadoes have a statistically significant deterrent effect on thefts, while imprisonment has a deterrent effect only when per capita income is high enough.